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Starve Acre (2023) Movie Recap | Horror Thriller Mystery
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00:00The film opens with a folk poem about a figure named Jack.
00:07After that, we're taken to 1970s Yorkshire, England, where we meet a small family, Richard,
00:15his wife Juliet, and their young son Owen.
00:18Richard works as an archaeology lecturer and life seems peaceful, but recently Owen has
00:24started acting strangely.
00:26He claims to hear whistling sounds that no one else can, and he also suffers from asthma.
00:33There are hints that he may have been hurting animals, though the film never shows this directly.
00:39Still, Richard and Juliet's worried expressions make it clear they're deeply troubled about
00:45their son.
00:47One day, the family attends a local fair.
00:50Richard and Juliet sit under a tree while Owen plays with other kids.
00:55Suddenly, they hear a scream.
00:58When they rush over, they find a pony's eye has been injured.
01:02There's no doubt Owen did it.
01:04But the boy just sits quietly, emotionless.
01:09After this disturbing event, his parents grow increasingly anxious.
01:14Owen continues receiving medical treatment, yet his behavior doesn't improve.
01:20The next day, Juliet gently tries to talk to him, hoping to understand what happened and
01:26what's going on in his mind.
01:28But Owen appears completely innocent, as if he remembers nothing at all.
01:34That day, Richard and Juliet take Owen to the hospital, where the doctor questions them.
01:41We learn they moved here two years ago, but Owen was too young to remember their old home.
01:47So the change in place isn't the reason for his behavior.
01:51Juliet explains that Owen often talks about hearing a voice, and once mentioned a name,
01:57Jack Gray.
01:59She believes this voice might be urging him to do such things.
02:03Richard, hearing this for the first time, realizes the name came from their old neighbor, Gordon,
02:11who loved telling spooky folk tales.
02:14One of them about Jack Gray.
02:16The doctor runs a brain scan, but it's clear no medical treatment can truly help Owen.
02:23At home, Juliet asks who Jack Gray is.
02:27Richard says he's just an old story character, created by his father.
02:32Gordon used to retell those stories to scare him, so Richard had already forbidden Gordon
02:38from visiting to protect Owen.
02:40Later, while spending time with his son, Richard tells him that somewhere on their land lies
02:47the roots of an ancient oak tree, once used as a place of gathering and punishment.
02:54Owen already knows, Gordon told him, that the oak's spirit, or the whistling tree, is a doorway
03:00to another world.
03:02Richard dismisses it as superstition, but Owen insists they should find the roots.
03:08Richard agrees, promising they'll look for it one day.
03:12That same day, Gordon visits Juliet, trying to comfort her.
03:17Juliet always felt that something was seriously wrong with Owen, but Richard refused to believe
03:23her.
03:24For him, Owen seemed perfectly fine.
03:27A few days later, everything changed.
03:30Owen suddenly died, and no one knew why.
03:34The couple was shattered.
03:35Some time after the tragedy, we see Richard digging up the land, searching for the roots
03:41of the old oak tree.
03:43He did it partly because he'd promised Owen they would, and partly to distract himself
03:48from grief.
03:50Meanwhile, Juliet stayed inside, lost in memories of her son.
03:55During this time, Richard begins reading his father Neil's old journal, filled with strange folklore
04:02and supernatural theories.
04:03From this, we learn that Neil was a cruel man who never showed Richard love.
04:08He believed in a spirit named Jack Gray, a supernatural force he tried to summon through sacrifice, even
04:17attempting to use Richard as the offering.
04:20Richard's childhood, therefore, was deeply traumatic.
04:25One day, Juliet's sister, Harry, arrives to stay for a few days to comfort her.
04:31Richard clearly dislikes having her there.
04:34He continues digging every day, setting up a tent on the land.
04:39Juliet, meanwhile, starts having nightmares about Owen.
04:43One day, Richard confides in her.
04:46He believes that deep down, Juliet never truly loved Owen, and at times even wished he would
04:52die, though she never admitted it aloud.
04:55Now, he says, they must let go of the past and move forward.
05:00While digging, Richard finds the skeleton of a hare and carefully collects it in a box,
05:05cleaning it later with great care.
05:09Twice in the film, we see Juliet staring into the field, suddenly freezing as if an invisible
05:15force had taken control of her mind.
05:18One night, she even sleepwalks to the tent where Richard was digging.
05:23This strange behavior hints at a much deeper reason that becomes clear only near the film's
05:30end.
05:31One day, their neighbor Gordon brings a woman named Mrs. Ford to meet Juliet.
05:38Mrs. Ford practiced yoga and meditation and was known for helping people heal emotionally.
05:44Gordon hoped she might help Juliet recover from her grief over Owen's death.
05:50During the meditation session, something strange happens.
05:55Candles suddenly blow out and relight on their own.
05:58Objects start to move and an unsettling energy fills the room.
06:03It feels supernatural, but Mrs. Ford calmly assures Juliet that this is a sign she can finally
06:10say goodbye to her son.
06:13Juliet, shaken, feels frightened by it all while Mrs. Ford remains oddly calm.
06:20Harry, skeptical, believes it was just a trick.
06:24After the session, Mrs. Ford leaves.
06:27Later, when Richard returns home and finds Juliet distressed, she tells him about the visit and
06:34the meditation.
06:35Richard dismisses it as nonsense, calling it superstition.
06:40This sparks a heated argument.
06:43Juliet knows Richard is using his digging to escape his grief.
06:47But what she needs is emotional support.
06:51Their relationship is clearly breaking apart.
06:54Richard ignores her and retreats to his study, checking the box of bones he had collected earlier.
07:01What he sees shocks him.
07:03The hair's bones have begun to regrow tissue and skin, and even a tiny heartbeat can be heard.
07:10It looks as if the creature is coming back to life, something impossible by any logic.
07:16Confused and scared, Richard takes the box to his friend Stephen, hoping for an explanation.
07:24But when he opens it there, the bones appear completely normal again.
07:28No tissue, no signs of life.
07:31Embarrassed and uncertain, he leaves without telling Stephen what he saw, wondering if grief
07:38was making him hallucinate.
07:40Yet, when Richard opens the box again at home, the bones now have visible muscles.
07:47He's stunned.
07:48It's real.
07:49Day by day, he secretly watches as the bones slowly reform into a living creature.
07:56Then, one day, the impossible happens.
07:59The bones transform fully into a living hare, hopping around his office.
08:04Richard is horrified, yet mesmerized.
08:07He had witnessed life return from death.
08:10Unsure how to explain it, he keeps it a secret.
08:14That same day, Juliet walks into his office.
08:17She can sense he's hiding something, though she never expected to see a real hare.
08:23When she questions him, Richard simply says he found it and brought it home because he
08:28thought it needed help.
08:30Juliet insists they should release the hare, and Richard reluctantly agrees.
08:36They place it in a box and take it outside, though both look strangely emotional, almost
08:42attached to the creature, as if it were more than just an animal.
08:48That night, Richard and Juliet grow closer again, as though the hare's presence had somehow
08:53softened the distance between them.
08:56It's clear by now that this was no ordinary animal.
09:01Richard opens up to Juliet about his past.
09:04When he was Owen's age, his father forced him to stand outside in the cold for hours without
09:11proper clothes.
09:12His father wasn't mentally stable and believed in strange supernatural rituals and stories.
09:19Hearing this, Juliet feels deep sorrow.
09:22Richard tearfully adds that when he became a father himself, he swore to give Owen the life
09:28he never had.
09:30Later, Richard immerses himself in his digging again.
09:34After days of effort, he finally uncovers the roots of the old oak tree.
09:39Meanwhile, Juliet begins to slowly recover from grief.
09:43She even starts drawing the hair, something Harry notices and finds unsettling.
09:50While in Richard's office, Harry discovers Neil's old journal, there was a ritual mentioned
09:56in it.
09:57The text explains that to summon Jack Gray, one must offer three sacrifices—a child, a
10:04man, and a woman.
10:06Harry dismisses it as dark superstition, similar to the kind of blind faith Mrs. Ford showed
10:12during meditation.
10:14She realizes that Richard's father had once tried to perform this very ritual, intending
10:20to sacrifice his own son, Richard, as the child offering.
10:25But something had stopped him, and the reason behind that failure would soon be revealed.
10:32After reading the journal, Juliet finally understands why Richard's father had been so cruel to
10:38him.
10:39The journal also mentions the ancient tree whose roots Richard has now uncovered.
10:45His friend Stephen joins him in the excavation.
10:48According to the writings, people in the 17th century called this tree the womb of nature.
10:55It was believed to be a gateway to another world, which is why it had been cut down long ago
11:02out of fear.
11:04While Richard and Stephen are working, they suddenly hear Harry screaming.
11:09When they rush over, they find that the hare has attacked her dog, badly injuring it, and
11:14even bit Harry's hand.
11:17What shocks them most is that the hare has returned.
11:21But even stranger, no one seems concerned about Harry or her pet.
11:27Juliet becomes completely obsessed with the hare, gently picking it up, calming it, and trying
11:33to feed it like a child.
11:35She even places it in Owen's old Moses basket, caring for it as if it were her own baby.
11:43Angry and shaken, Harry cleans her wounds and leaves the house.
11:48Meanwhile, Richard keeps digging, unaware of the growing danger.
11:53That day, Juliet hears Stephen's voice echoing outside, calling out,
11:58I'm here for him.
11:59A chill runs through her.
12:01She's convinced he's come to take the hare away.
12:05She panics, believing he wants to take the hare away, though it's only a vision.
12:10Both she and Richard now seem controlled by the tree's dark power.
12:16In a trance-like state, Juliet grabs a knife and goes to the dig site where Richard and
12:22Stephen are working.
12:23The tree's spirit overwhelms Richard, leaving him frozen as Juliet, under its influence,
12:30kills Stephen, completing the second sacrifice before Richard can stop her.
12:36Meanwhile, Harry is seen trying to make a phone call, but runs into Gordon, who reveals a disturbing
12:43truth.
12:44He tells her that it was Richard's father who had first begun the ritual to summon Jack
12:50Gray.
12:51He had planned to sacrifice Richard as a child, but the ritual failed because of one crucial
12:56rule.
12:57The father must truly love the child he sacrifices.
13:02Richard's father never loved him, but Richard deeply loved his own son, Owen.
13:08That's why Jack Gray, the spirit connected to the ancient tree, has now chosen Richard to
13:14finish what his father couldn't.
13:17As the ritual also demands the sacrifice of a woman, Harry realizes that Juliet's life is
13:23in danger.
13:24Horrified, she rushes back home to save her sister.
13:29By now, Richard and Juliet are completely under the spirit's control.
13:34Juliet tells Richard that they must complete the ritual, saying,
13:39He chose us.
13:41She then confesses a haunting truth.
13:44When Owen had his final asthma attack, she hesitated to help him, feeling a twisted sense
13:50of relief, as if life might be easier without him.
13:54It becomes clear that Jack Gray had been influencing them even before Owen's death, slowly corrupting their thoughts.
14:03Now, both Richard and Juliet are entirely possessed by the spirit of the tree, Jack Gray himself.
14:11Jack Gray has now been reborn in the form of the hare, and to complete the ritual, a woman's
14:16sacrifice is still required.
14:19Soon after, Harry arrives at the house, only to witness the horrifying sight of Richard
14:24and Juliet treating the hare like their own child, completely lost to madness.
14:32Outside, we see Gordon and Mrs. Ford disposing of Stephen's body, while Mrs. Ford chants strange
14:38incantations, clearly under the same dark influence.
14:43Before long, Harry too falls under the spirit's control.
14:48Gordon makes a subtle gesture, signaling that it's time for the final sacrifice.
14:54As Harry stands there, entranced, Richard strikes her with a hammer, ending her life instantly.
15:01Juliet watches without emotion, entirely devoted to the ritual.
15:06The ceremony is now complete, and Jack Gray fully manifests in physical form, reborn into
15:13their world.
15:14In the haunting final scene, Juliet is seen nursing the creature, while Richard gently sings
15:20a lullaby as if soothing their child.
15:24And with that chilling image, the film ends, leaving the audience with the sense that evil
15:30has finally been reborn.
15:36After watching a film, a lot of questions come to mind.
15:40The film is packed with mystery, symbolism, and emotional depth.
15:45The folklore shown in the movie, Jack Gray and the Whistling Tree, isn't part of real British
15:52legends.
15:53These were invented by writer Andrew Michael Hurley specifically for the story.
15:59However, he drew inspiration from real English folk traditions and Yorkshire myths, blending
16:05them into a new fictional folklore that feels authentic but is entirely original.
16:12This is why the film's world feels so old, eerie, and believable.
16:17It borrows the tone and mood of actual British folk tales while creating its own myth.
16:23The story also hides layers of symbolism and deeper meaning.
16:28If you look closely, you'll find recurring themes such as grief or guilt, land as a living
16:34entity, ambiguity between supernatural and psychological.
16:39So while Starve Acre uses a fictional myth, it captures the spirit of real folklore, ancient,
16:46haunting, and deeply human.
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