A NEW Irish-led horror film, which has won acclaim from critics, is set to hit cinemas this weekend.
Censor stars Co. Westmeath native Niamh Algar, who appeared in the BBC’s MotherFatherSon alongside Richard Gere, and Belfast-born actor Michael Smiley (Luther, Kill List, The Lobster).
The film, Prano Bailey-Bond’s directorial debut, currently holds an 88 per cent Fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
Algar was nominated for a Best Actress award for her performance (Image: Maria Lax, courtesy of Magnet Releasing)Censor, which draws inspiration from the 1980s ‘video nasties’ craze and the furore they caused, stars Algar as film censor Enid.
When she is assigned a disturbing film that echoes her childhood, she begins to unravel how her work might be tied to her past.
She sets out to solve the mystery of her sister's disappearance years earlier, embarking on a quest that dissolves the line between fiction and reality.
Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times is among those to have praised Censor, which had its premiere at this year’s Sundance Festival.
She wrote: “As an experience of mood, tone, performance and dazzlingly macabre style, it's a striking and wholly original piece, a cinematic experience that has no obligation to offer the audience pat conclusions wrapped up in a tidy bow.”
The film earned Bailey-Bond the Director to Watch Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and a Best Actress nomination for Algar from the Hollywood Critics Association.
Sensor is released in Britain and Ireland this Friday, August 20.
