Cleek (2017)

Cleek: Directed by Gary J Hewitt. With Sam Alcroft, Mark Barrett, Seylan Baxter, Diane Brooks Webster. Jacob Cleek is a quiet well presented artist, who keeps himself to himself. But Jacob has a secret, and when it starts to break to the surface, he must do what he can to stop his world from crumbling.

“A good, low budget thriller/drama. Good central performances especially from lead Mark Barrett. The film begins at a gentle pace, giving us time to learn about who we are watching which I liked a lot. Too often films try to push straight into the u0026quot;actionu0026quot; without giving us time to care about the characters and their relationships. There is a tension to the opening as we learn, almost in the background, that a girl is missing and itu0026#39;s interesting trying to work out how the characters fit into this plot line. But we get a sense that something is wrong with a simple glance that Cleek makes to a street security camera whilst talking to a prostitute. From then on we are locked into what heu0026#39;s up to, as his actions get weirder and weirder. And then a reveal thatu0026#39;s quite disturbing. Itu0026#39;s a lovely balanced performance by Mark Barrett and brings to mind Ralph Fiennes creepy psychotic in Red Dragon. We know that behind his cold stoic expression something is waiting to explode. The film isnu0026#39;t too graphic when it could have been, which I liked, although there is some blood and gore of course – itu0026#39;s a serial killer movie! Itu0026#39;s well shot and edited – with some really nice night time location shooting.nA good low budget movie which is held steady by a very strong central performance from Mark Barrett.”