The Thing with Feathers

A Sundance-screened, horror-tinged drama where Benedict Cumberbatch plays a grieving widower with two children – and battles the giant, unearthly Crow.

After music documentaries like No Distance Left to Run and Shut Up and Play the Hits, British Dylan Southern takes another direction with this horror-tinged drama where Benedict Cumberbatch plays a grieving widower with children. A gigantic crow grows to life out of his book illustrations, and the menacing creature steps into their home, wreaking havoc and destruction. The film is based on Max Porter’s acclaimed debut novel "Grief Is the Thing with Feathers", and has unsurprisingly been compared to The Babadook since its Sundance premiere.

• Emma Gray Munthe