In fact I argue that Calibre is also an instance of a subgenre of horror film that is having an unambiguous resurgence right now, the folk horror film. Indeed, it exists as two kinds of film at the same time, playing on the tension between them. Part of the brilliance of Calibre, though, is that it exists at the same time as another kind of film. Marcus (Martin McCann) and Vaughn (Jack Lowden) hunting Nothing is wasted in the tight and tense plot, and the ending is both inevitable and unbearably painful.

The film’s plot is relatively simple and depends all the more on its stellar cast, and the stunning, alternately lush and bleak, Highlands landscape (not only Leadhills and Beatock but also Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway, as well as Beecraigs Country Park in West Lothian). It may sound exaggerated, but in this case it happens to be true: everything about Calibre is perfect-the acting, writing, directing, cinematography, and pacing. Despite hangovers, both men head off the next morning to hunt deer, as planned, but they’re involved in a terrible accident and almost immediately lose control of the spiraling, out-of-control consequences. Vaughn, who has a pregnant fiancée, resists temptation and only talks with Iona (Kate Bracken), but Marcus does rather more with the clearly dangerous Kara (Kitty Lovett). They arrive at the Highland village of Culcarran (filmed on location in Leadhills and Beatock in South Lanarkshire) and head straight out for a raucous night at the local pub, replete with enticing local girls. The film features two late-twenty-something men, Vaughn (Jack Lowden) and Marcus (Martin McCann) who head from Edinburgh up into the Highlands to hunt, an activity Vaughn is less than enthusiastic about.

Calibre is a brilliant Scottish thriller released in 2018 and directed and written by Matt Palmer, who has previously made two short horror films, The Gas Man (2014) and Island (2007).

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