Shaw Ridge’s Cineworld was packed out with guests, cast, and crew dressed to the nines – a memo I definitely missed and so failed to also alert my plus one to. Nevertheless, Cineworld’s foyer was bustling with murmurs of anticipation which quite frankly is a rarity, particularly for an independent film, in a mainstream cinema. Secker hit the ground running, with regards to his stylisation, from the opening shot; his wide angles and use of desaturated colour were consistent throughout which perfectly set the post-apocalyptic tone for Follow the Crows. The world is seemingly a barren wasteland which is established through open spaces and bare backdrops, echoing similarities between environments seen in The Walking Dead and Black Mirror’s White Bear. The unforgiving landscape is also superbly paralleled by Graeme Osborne’s eerie score piercing through the open spaces. There is also much attention to the natural elements, from the whistling of the wind to the crackling of the fire, that is prominent throughout and highlights the authenticity of location shooting. Follow the Crows is a thriller to say the least, but also encapsulates conventions most commonly associated with the horror genre. Secker’s style combined with Osbourne’s score successfully evokes a spine-tingling level of suspense, that also stems from each character’s ambiguous backstory and innate lack of trust. 
The main story lies with ‘The Man’ (Max Curtis); a lone-ranger who is first introduced hiking up hills and across fields. It is through The Man that the theme of isolation becomes apparent; he is seen scavenging through discarded items which were suggestively once possessions before the world descended into… well, the bleak outback that is has become. Along the way The Man pairs up with the stranded and feisty, albeit naive, ‘The Woman’. The duo endures the natural elements, hard truths, love, and hostility - as do the film’s subplot characters. At first there appears to be a disconnect between the individual narratives, although obviously tied together through their post-apocalyptic position, which Secker later connects with a rather remarkable twist. Using local actors, the assembled cast boast strong performances and portrayed a good sense of chemistry allowing the audience to become integrated with the characters’ relationships. Although there is an ambiguity with backstories, this doesn’t undermine Secker’s enigma-driven plot. Character relationships and characteristics are established through a strong use of binary opposites, by means of assisting the audience to distinguish Follow the Crows’ heroes and villains (in a world where seemingly there is no good left). In this respect, it could have been more favourable to have fewer characters to allow more focus on character identity. This does however work to Secker’s advantage given the circumstances in which the characters are in – identity seems to almost be too much of a luxury, and the name of the game is simply to survive. However, by allowing more insight into some backstories, this could have enabled the audience to identify more with the characters. This in turn could have generated more sympathy towards the characters’ more harrowing situations. That being said, I am incredibly partial to a dark film and admit that this has potentially numbed me over the years. The framework and foundation that Alex Secker has set down with his first feature film ignites a lot of prospect and anticipation for his next upcoming project. Having funded Follow the Crows independently and via Crowdfunding, the film has been executed in a way that wouldn’t have you guessing that this was Alex’s first feature to date. The end result is something that the cast and crew should be very proud of. 