‘Mesmerising and disturbing’ horror thriller written by soap legend terrifies viewers-Rebecca Sayce-Entertainment – Metro

The latest horror film written by a soap icon and directed by his wife opened FrightFest’s 25th anniversary event, ‘terrifying’ attendees.

With a screenplay by Emmerdale star Dominic Brunt, based on his wife Joanne Mitchell’s 2018 short film Sybil, Broken Bird had its world premiere at the London horror festival at Leicester Square’s Odeon.

Directed by Mitchell, who married Brunt in 2003, the film follows the story of Sybil (Rebecca Calder), a lonely, troubled woman who moves to a new town to start afresh.

The physician lands herself a new job in a funeral parlour where she spends her days with her secretive yet friendly boss (James Fleet), though her life is still consumed by loneliness and she often spends her days wistfully imagining how life could be, or attending poetry evenings.

After meeting charismatic love interest Mark (Jay Taylor) by chance one evening, her fantasies begin to spiral out of control with devastating consequences.

Viewers took to social media to share their thoughts about the wild horror thriller, with many praising Calder’s ‘mesmerising and disturbing’ performance as Sybil.

Broken Bird has terrified viewers (Picture: Catalyst Studios)

The film opened FrightFest’s 25th anniversary event (Picture: Catalyst Studios)

‘Opening film for #FrightFest was Broken Bird, a quirky gothic tinged oddity that asked “what if Amelie was a f*****g sociopath?”. Rebecca Calder is magnetic, but James Fleet might break your heart,’ Sarah Miles wrote on X.

Mal Jutley added: ‘Broken Bird, opened FrightFest..Strong story about a woman working in a mortuary and the deceptive world created, driven by loss and grief.’

Steve Scarebear said: ‘Went into Broken Bird @FrightFest completely blind, came out totally transfixed. Fantastically creepy debut from Joanne Mitchell & a terrifying performance by Rebecca Calder as Sybil.’

James Rodriguez wrote: ‘Kicking off FrightFest 2024 is BROKEN BIRD, a confidently directed and superbly acted piece about grief and searching for family amidst a fracturing mind. It may feel disjointed in places, but this is a cracking start.’

Fans are horrified (Picture: Catalyst Studios)

The film follows loss and grief (Picture: Catalyst Studios)

Critics were similarly ‘stunned’ by the ‘engrossing rumination on loss and grief’, with Starburst Magazine writing: ‘More important than the disturbing events, Broken Bird is an engrossing rumination on loss and grief, and the ways it affects people in different ways.’

FilmFocus Online added: ‘Rebecca Calder is mesmerising and memorable in the starring role, the visuals are stunning, the plot is both satisfying and unique, and the ending is one of the most memorable, cold and chilling of this year’s horror releases thus far.’

Warped Perspective said: ‘The film is increasingly brilliant and artfully tense, an uneasy piece of modern Gothic which pries away at modern attitudes to death and grief.’

It’s not the first time Brunt and Mitchell have joined forces, collaborating on his debut zombie film Before Dawn in 2013 before working on Bait, Attack of the Adult Babies, Wolf Manor, and 2023’s Evie.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Mitchell described working alongside her husband on horror films.

Broken Bird comes from a screenplay by Emmerdale star Dominic Brunt, based on his wife Joanne Mitchell’s 2018 short film Sybil, who serves as director (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

‘We work really well together. If you’re living together and you get a bit of inspiration or a thought about something creatively, you don’t have to pick up the phone and try and arrange a meeting.

‘We watch a lot of films together. We talk about a lot of films and we have very similar tastes. He’s probably a bit more on the zombie thing than I am. I do like a zombie I do like a zombie film. But he was always madly into zombie movies. So that’s hence why our very first feature was a zombie film.’

Broken Bird had its world premiere at FrightFest 2024 on Thursday, August 22.

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