A childhood haunting that's far from angelic

Ruth Platt’s fairytale of fusty parish England is subtle, highly atmospheric and illuminated by surprising love and care

Expanded from the 2019 short film of the same name, Martyrs Lane tells a deeply personal ghost story inspired by Gothic and Spanish folklore.

Strange visions haunt Ruth Platt’s melancholy supernatural story

Ten-year-old Leah (Kiera Thompson) is caught watching her family like an outsider looking in. Her much older sister (Hannah Rae's Bex) is about to leave for college and the milestone has seemingly thrown a wrench into their otherwise simple lives. While their father Thomas (Steven Cree) treats it like a celebration, thanks to his faith

For better and for worse, Martyrs Lane is deeply invested in the innocence of a child's understanding about death.

Ruth Platt's "Martyr's Lane" is horror at a low simmer, a triumph of tone over content, performances over frights. This beautifully Gothic ghost story rests on the shoulders of two angelic moppets, a film that makes its myopic simplicity a virtue in every perfectly-composed frame. Kiera Thompson plays Leah, a parson's daughter living in the…