"gives horror aficionados something semi-fresh and intriguing to experience"

Starring Game of Thrones ginger Rose Leslie, Honeymoon immediately seeks to establish a particularly overt lovey-dovey setup when her character, Bea, embarks on an intimate holiday away with new hubby Paul (Harry Treadway).

It’s poised with the makings of a typical scenario, whereby a pair of hapless protagonists venture to an isolated cabin, so naturally it’s bound to end up going horribly wrong at some point.

However, setting itself apart from the likes of Cabin Fever, Cabin in the Woods and even The Evil Dead, Leigh Janiak’s directorial debut delivers heavy-handedly on an idyllic, romanticised premise, often to the point of being sickly sweet. Yet it’s perhaps a foreboding contrast for what is in store for the couple, which will have audiences squirming as insistently, but for different, albeit equally grotesque reasons.

As the newlyweds settle into their temporary surroundings, they encounter the horror tropes to checklist precision: the arrival at an old, creepy cabin they call home; the odd, unnerving couple who live nearby; the quiet, isolated lake that sits at the foot of their dwelling. All these imply there’s something not quite right going on, yet neither seem too distracted from one another until Bea is found sleepwalking in the woods one night.

Janiak creates tension and scares effectively, with a number of drawn-out scenes in an attempt to make the audience feel as uncomfortable as possible. Odd, incoherent clues as to what is actually taking place are all we require, as an eerie atmosphere is generated as a mystery unfolds.

The build-up towards what we hope is a revealing climax that offers some sort of clarity is a compelling ride that’s almost in the vein of the Ti West school of suspense: a slow burner that never races full throttle or into anything too explicit; it chips away at your psychological unease and confuses with what’s occurring on-screen.

The pay-off is, without giving anything away, a satisfyingly morbid one. The plot gradually unravels for both us and the characters, as we begin to piece together what’s happening. Amidst the paranoia, trust issues, questions of betrayal, and general bump-in-the-night terrors, Honeymoon gives horror aficionados something semi-fresh and intriguing to experience, even if it’s not a totally original premise.