If the job of a horror film is to terrify, then The Outwaters is refreshingly direct and astonishingly successful even as it is, in certain ways, wilfully obscure.

The Outwaters sounds Blair Witch–like on paper, down to the camping trip its group of four friends is taking. But the actual experience of watching it is an astonishing array of dreamlike imagery as the trip goes from mundane to macabre.

Lacing the scramble too with a cosmic hint of Stanley Kubrick, director and star Robbie Banfitch touches on something truly nightmarish.

Both hypnotising and horrifying, The Outwaters perfectly plays on the natural human urge to understand our surroundings and the meaning behind madness.