Darker than Saltburn: Barry Keoghan is amazing as a topless gunman in gory new thriller

Bring Them Down at the London Film Festival, review and star rating: “Darker than Saltburn’ ★★★★

It’s been exactly a year since Saltburn premiered at the London Film Festival, elevating Barry Keogan to elite-level grave-shagger and enigmatic prettyboy of the moment. You won’t need reminding that in the year since, he’s joined Paul Mescal in Hollywood, becoming the next refreshingly ordinary A-Lister from Ireland. He even became a viral meme for how out of place he looks on red carpets. You’ll surely be delighted to know that in new thriller Bring Them Down, which Keoghan executive produced, the 31-year-old from Dublin ends up uncomfortably close to more gruesome murders. Let’s call it a Saltburn one year anniversary present.

But in some ways, Bring Them Down is darker and more messed up. Set in an unnerving abyss of misty hills in rural Ireland that even the locals get lost in, farmer Michael’s sheep keep going missing. Even worse, the poor things are ending up with their legs sawn off, baa-ing in agony (told you it’s dark, and Keoghan’s character Jack splashes around plenty of sheep carcass to boot). Michael’s traumatised by his abusive father, played with formidable steel by Colm Meaney, but moreso by rival farmers who live over the hilltop. Everyone’s internally screaming with their own traumas, be it domestic abuse, unresolved tragic family deaths or financial difficulties. 

Darker than Saltburn: Barry Keoghan is a joy to watch in Bring Them Down

If the plot sounds far-fetched, the landscapes make the gruesomeness feel horrifyingly local. Ireland’s mountains are cloaked in soaking wet thick mist; they loom claustrophobically in every shot. You believe that on this anonymous earth literally anything can happen. Writer-director Christopher Andrews should be incredibly proud of his inaugural feature film; he bolsters the realism with a script that bursts with emotionally expressive language that makes you feel for the baddie even when you hate them too.

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As for the toe-curling, can’t-look-from-behind-your-fingers stakes, you get great value for money. Andrews has shot half the film in cars cascading down country lakes so fast you can’t look; he juxtaposes the action with familial drama where the lines are perfectly blurred between who’s enemies and who are best friends. You often wonder when someone will turn. And we haven’t even got to those poor massacred sheep. 

Like in Saltburn, Keoghan is absorbing as the impressionable youngster Jack, roped in to help his family in the farmer wars. With Keoghan you feel as if he truly knows who he is playing, but equally you can’t imagine him fussing over a shot, more digging into scenes off the bat, gently feeling his way through. It’s a joy to watch, even if two laughable thirst trap moments of him wandering around in the freezing cold topless with a gun feel crow-barred in for the Saltburn fandom. He’s in fine company; particularly impressive is Paul Ready’s portrayal of rival farmer Gary, the sort of contradictory, surprising man you pore over. You want more from alternative protagonist Michael, particularly his backstory, but Christopher Abbott gives a sensitive portrayal. 

You can’t help but feel Keoghan’s playing up to it a little. But he’s deliciously good at playing enigmatic misfits with a penchant for blood and gore. With new comedy-drama Four Mothers also impressing at this year’s London Film Festival, Irish film-making sustains its heat.

The London Film Festival runs until 20 October and tickets are available

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