Alan in Belfast: Bring Them Down – shepherding in a grisly addition to the cinematic ovine oeuvre (Queen’s Film Theatre from Friday 7 February)

It’s all kicking off on the farm. Though truth be told, there’s been a lot of death and killing on hill over the years. Bring Them Down sees Michael (played by Christopher Abbott) is carrying on the tradition of sheep farming, living with his ailing father (a chair-bound Colm Meaney). A fatal incident from Michael’s past just compounds the vexed reaction to a locked gate and begins to stir up ever-increasing conflict as Gary (Paul Ready) and his son Jack (Barry Keoghan) at the neighbouring farm – financially and maritally on its last legs – take extreme action.

Sheep are rustled and butchered. Vehicles are driven recklessly. Pen knives are wielded. Guns are toted. And blood – animal and human – flows. Ultimately it will become a tussle between the maimed and the angry.

More horrific than horror, this is a clash that has no justice, only retribution.

“How did we get here?” asks Gary’s wife Caroline (Nora-Jane Noone). It’s a good question.

Cinemagoers watch as director Chris Andrews follows the effect of the deadly dominoes toppling over from the perspective of Michael, before switching (with no notice) to replay events from young Jack’s viewpoint on the other farm. The storytelling technique is a little jarring, though it does help space the gore out quite evenly across the 105 minute movie. It’s a film that would benefit from the final 30 seconds being cut: would have been better to go out with a bang as the ending feels like a total cop out given Michael’s injury and state of mind.

Hannah Peel’s percussive score is excellent, layering sinister sounds under the violent visuals. Nick Cooke makes the west of Ireland landscape look particularly brooding with his sterling cinematography. Keoghan is playing a but younger – and Noone a bit older – than is credible, but the drama quickly overcomes casting insecurities as the blood begins to be spilt.

Shepherding seems to attract screenwriters and directors like flies around a rotting carcass: Icelandic films Rams (dealing with sibling sheep farmers who maintain a frosty relationship) and Lamb (a frosty relationship between María and Ingvar who birth a lambchild), not to mention God’s Own Country (with its queer goings-on in the Yorkshire dales).

However, Bring Them Down is the most grisly addition to this ovine oeuvre. For the price of a few jars of mint sauce, it’s available to watch in the comfort of the blood red seats in Queen’s Film Theatre from Friday 7 February (with a Baby Pictures screening that morning for strong-stomached parents of little ones aged 12 months and under).