Lore is a horror/thriller that marks the debut of co-writers, co-directors, and co-producers Brock Manwill and Christian Larsen, it’s an impressive achievement for the talented duo and one that should indicate a bright future for the partnership.

Inspired by Native American folklore, the story introduces a divorced couple whose teenaged son has apparently gone on a camping trip into the woods with some friends. This turns into every parent’s nightmare as it turns out he went alone and is now missing.

After the local police fail to find any clue as to his disappearance, the distressed parents, Ann and Rich (Lyndsey Lantz and Max Lesser), decide to go to look for themselves, especially since Ann is experiencing due to the vivid dreams of her son still being alive. They engage a Native American guide named John (Sean Wei Mah) and off they venture, despite the warning from a tribal elder to “watch out for the girl”.

Unfortunately, their problems are just beginning.  In the wilderness, they encounter several signs that warn them to turn back, which they duly ignore.  Subsequently, they find themselves being stalked by a shapeshifter called The Howler, who as John tells them, gets its power from killing a family member.

So, all the tropes are in place for a predictable, by-the-numbers horror film.  But this independently made little gem elevates above that. The Howler is rarely actually seen. Just glimpses here and there, and never a clear look at the whole thing. And this subtle handling makes the knowledge that it’s there, somewhere, more ominous than had he popped up regularly and become familiar.

But over and above your standard horror fare, this is more a study of a mother’s resolve to find her missing child against all odds. Lynsey Lantz carries most of the film with a grim determination that will not be beaten.  Not by a guide urging them to turn back, an estranged ex-spouse who seems willing to concede, nor the eerie supernatural force whose presence is menacing their very survival. It’s very much a tone poem of hope against hopelessness, skilfully directed and performed.

Filmed on location in Idaho, Lore makes full use of locations we’ve not seen in a movie before, with imaginative use of drone filming to achieve an uncanny sense of disorienting isolation that provides an unsettling backdrop.

An unusually atmospheric film that is more than it first appears.

Lore is out now on DVD