Them (15) <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

This debut feature is a minimalist horror yarn in the style of The Blair Witch Project.

Apparently based on a true story, it focuses upon a young French couple (played by Olivia Bonamy and Michael Cohen) whose ramshackle house in the Romanian countryside is attacked one night by intruders.

But who, or what, are they? Expertly using light and shadow, the film-makers enfold us in the iron grip of a nightmare whose effect depends as much on what we hear as what we can (mostly barely) see: the sounds of footfalls, of breathing, of things going bump in the night, stealthily mark the transition from simply eerie to downright terrifying.

Indeed, so skilfully does the film shield its hand that the final "reveal" actually comes as a disappointment - the enigma was truly much harder to bear.