The Mill Killers — The Mill Killers( VOD)
The Mill Killers (aka Scopophobia) is a Welsh crime thriller, with undertones of horror, mystery, and nods back towards Giallo films of the 70s. The 2024 film regards a group of grown-up school friends who revisit the run-down industrial town they lived in. A large part of the film takes place in a shadowy, at times downright creepy, abandoned steel works- with some neat plot twists, a few decent scares, and light touches of gore. Here from Miracle Media is a VOD release of the film.
The Mill Killers is the first feature-length film from Carmarthen, Wales-born Aled Owen, who directed, wrote, and has a small supporting role in the film. His only other credit is 2008’s Lid Down Lights Out, which he co-directed with Giacomo Ropa- it's an eight-minute film about sensory deprivation therapy. Owen has five other acting credits to his name.
The film opens with black & white pre-credits- these mainly focus on a woman driving, then walking into a steel mill. She’s carrying a red money box, which is most effective/eye-catching against the rest of the monochrome film. We find out the mill is on its last legs and needs the money in the box to pay the firm's wages. Inside the woman's office, we see a white masked figure. she turns around- the figures gone and so has the money box. Police are brought in to investigate- then a jumper drifts from one of the upstairs levels of the factory- this is followed by the body of the woman, with blood red splashing on the onlookers.
Next, we meet our lead, Rhiannon (Catrin Jones), who is in therapy for Scopophobia, ‘an intense and irrational fear of being watched or stared’. She is fairly soon picked up by her bespectacled friend Sam( Bethany Williams-Potter)- they are heading to Milton, the Welsh town where the now abandoned steel mill sits, to meet two other school friends, Erin( Emma Stacey) and the recently engaged Mia(Ellen Jane-Thomas).
The four have a few drinks in the town and are served by the neatly bearded Oilver- played by director/ writer Aled Owen. The group sink more than a few drinks, scaring off the other local drinkers, then decides to go and check out the old steel mill.
As the film unfolds, we meet a creepy man in a yellow Mack with a voice box, numerous white masked figures, and flashbacks to the group's teen years. With a fair few twists in the plot, some gory murders, and some quite effectively creepy/ uneasy moments, often edged by red & blue lighting filters.
The film runs for one hour and forty minutes. It largely unfolds well, with the story nicely opening up as it progresses. The group of four friends feel believable enough, with the small surrounding cast being fine too.
All told, The Mill Killers is a decent opening feature from Mr Owen- with a good mix of thrills, chills, and effective/if fairly sparse gore. The film's trailer rather sells it as a horror film, and Giallo throwback- and while these elements are present, it’s more of a thriller than anything else.