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The work of Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous if undernourished debut feature turns a sceptical eye on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to break into his own family home. Before you can say, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”

Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Confrontation

Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, fuming after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff unfolds – David eager to get away; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.

Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility

There is only one key story turn, but it results in a comically executed rampage on the woodland paths that dips close to folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full psychedelic 21-gun salute, accompanied by a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like an extended promo than a complete narrative, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into making the leap from the UK video industry.

The film releases in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.