The Arborist

What it’s about

Ellie, a landscape architect, is struggling after her husband's death. She accepts a well-paid offer from Arthur, a reclusive landowner, to cut down trees on his isolated property. She brings her teenage son, Wyatt. As they work, the woods begin to feel wrong. Nightmares bleed into waking life, and figures in animal costumes appear, trying to warn them. The deeper they go, the more the place's dark history surfaces.

What hooks you

Andrew Mudge directs a cast led by Lucy Walters as Ellie and Hudson West as Wyatt, with Will Lyman as the enigmatic Arthur. The film's sound and score are by Nima Fakhrara, known for his unsettling work. The story draws on the tension between a mother's need to provide and a place that feeds on loss.

Who it’s for

It will appeal to those who like horror that builds slowly through atmosphere and unease rather than jump scares, and to viewers drawn to stories about grief and family under supernatural pressure.