Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

ambiguousnightmare If you like films without unanswered questions and ambiguity then this film isn't for you. I normally like to discuss these ambiguities and unanswered questions with other but this films ending was very unsatisfying. It left a gap hard to fill. The scenery was pleasing and was generally well acted. The movie was dependent on the charm and eyes of Daisy. I can't deny that she is charming but the film is a little to in love with her. The plot is predictable. Predictable plots are fine if the ride to the conclusion is enjoyable enough. Despite the charm of the film, the solid acting and lovely Irish scenery this film is seriously lacking. When a film is lacking something I can't help comparing it to other spooky child films.If you like gore then this one isn't for you. This film is about suspense and human drama. This film is very accessible for those with a low horror tolerance. If horror film were based on curries then this would be tikka masala.

Spikeopath The Daisy Chain is directed by Aisling Walsh and stars Samantha Morton, Steven Mackintosh, Mhairi Anderson and David Bradley.Grieving over the loss of their first child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, newly pregnant couple Martha and Tomas decide to leave England and live on the Irish coast. They settle in quickly and things seem to be going well, but when their neighbours house burns down, leaving young Daisy an orphan, Martha and Tomas decide to foster care for Daisy in spite of her being a little different and introverted. Soon enough bad things seem to befall people who come into contact with Daisy, leading to the locals to suspect she may be something terrible from Irish folklore.OK! There's some pretty venomous reviews of this out there in internet land, but really it's a very well constructed creeper that's not without intelligence. Firstly it needs to be noted that this is not a horror film as such, anyone searching for a scare fest or Omen like shocks are in for the biggest of disappointments. Secondly, taking some time out to read something about the legends of Faerie Changeling's will significantly improve your viewing experience. Walsh's movie firmly deals in the realm of superstitious legend, adds in a heart aching strand involving surrogacy via grief, and then lets it play out in ethereal beats till the chilling conclusion is reached.Morton and young Anderson are superb, the former stoic of motherly instincts but still emotionally cracked underneath, the latter a pallid and unnerving presence that haunts the picture even without much dialogue. The photography around the coastal hillside location is stripped back for realism purpose, it may be beautiful terrain, but there's a greyness hanging in the air, suitably so as well. The musical score is a touch irritating, and Walsh is guilty of over doing the slow burn approach, but this definitely has more going for it than has previously been said. Not one to rush out and buy for sure, but certainly worthy of TV time on proviso you understand the Faerie thematics at work first. 7/10

Tom Female directors are too rare, particularly those willing to approach the horror genre. Walsh uses the beautiful Western Irish coast to create a bleak atmosphere of isolation and vulnerability. The plot is somewhat obvious, a young couple move away from the bright lights of London to raise a family, the wife is pregnant, and the husband has inherited his childhood home in Ireland, but the neighbour's child Daisy is suspected of being a fairy changeling, born in a fairy ring on Halloween. The Neighbour's son is killed under mysterious circumstances and the parents are soon to follow, the child is then adopted by the London couple, the motivation for this aspect of the plot is addressed but remains unconvincing. The superstitious locals become increasingly scared of young Daisy. The film lacks originality but has some redeeming qualities, the child actress Mhairi Anderson who plays Daisy is remarkable, providing a genuinely disturbing performance, the cinematography and score combine to give the film a unique character that is tense and compelling. The theme of fairies and the supernatural remains unaddressed which is frustrating, it is never made clear whether the girl suffers from autism, is very disturbed or is really a fairy changeling, a question left unanswered deliberately by the director, but in a clumsy way, that doesn't encourage the audience to feel sympathy for the girl, who is properly identified neither as victim nor as aggressor. Despite the flaws The Daisy Chain, a combination of Straw Dogs and the Wicker Man, is a beautiful and at times moving addition to the horror genre.

prrffft The above Q and A took place after last night's debut screening at the Raindance film festival in London, an abrupt exchange between an audience member and the film's director, Aisling Walsh. And frankly, for me, her disbelief is the problem. For if she doesn't believe, how can she expect us to? (I have not included spoilers for the film's ending; I only tell the basic set up.)The Daisy Chain is set in a remote corner of Ireland, but even here the locals (bar your one token nut who nobody's ever going to listen to) do not believe in fairies anymore. Nonetheless, living amongst them is a 'fairy changeling', an autistic 10-year old Daisy who, with no more reason than that of a petulant child, is using her supernatural powers to kill off anyone who would get in the way of her mission to find someone to play with. Schoolteacher (Stephen MacIntosh) returns to his hometown with his heavily pregnant wife Martha (played by a heavily pregnant Samantha Morton); they are escaping from London, where their first child died aged only 3 weeks. Very soon Daisy's little brother and parents die in mysterious accidents and Martha, against her husband's escalating alarm, is stepping in as foster mum. If you think you know where this is all heading by now, you're probably right. Comparisons with The Omen are inevitable. Apart from the setting and substituting a fairy-changeling for the Devil, this is basically a copy, with pretty much the same clichéd twists and psychological 'thrills'. The difference is in the level of belief. OK, so The Omen was made in the Dark Ages (1976) when many people still at least half-believed in the Devil. Today nobody does. But however silly the story, every highly-researched detail of The Omen carries utter conviction in its pompous, claustrophobic self so that even today, the viewer is still compelled to suspend disbelief and take that ride. The Daisy Chain clearly lacks belief in itself (or much apparent research) as is evident from unnecessarily sloppy plotting, and from supporting characters and subplot strands that insubstantially manifest out of nowhere and go nowhere. Ironically, Ms Walsh (the director) seems to have lost sight of all this as a result of herself being mesmerised by the beguiling face of promising newcomer Mhairi Anderson (who plays Daisy), just as Martha in the film falls helplessly under Daisy's spell. Mhairi's perfectly fairy/urchin-like face and unsettling stare dominates the film but, as effective as she is, this cannot make up for the lack of scripted thrills. I sensed that much of the audience's enthusiasm afterwards was projected toward Mhairi's presence. Certainly, those around me with stretching necks looked eager and relieved to confirm that Mhairi is actually a sweetly charming and not-at-all evil young lady. Phew!The post-viewing Q and A session held one other surprise that possibly explains some of these problems but prompts other questions. Watching the film, it was immediately apparent that Samantha Morton (whose films I usually always love) was heavily pregnant during the making of the film. Was Samantha boldly (and unsuperstitiously) taking method acting a step beyond? No. It turns out that in the original script Martha was NOT pregnant, and that the script was re-written at a very late stage to embrace this casting coup. This revelation left me reeling. For, as the film now stands, Martha's pregnancy is absolutely central and essential to the entire story. In fact, without it, there would be nothing left but Daisy's face.And I still don't get why it's called The Daisy Chain.