Ireland has produced a rich array of spine-tingling horror titles, from Damian McCarthy's Caveat and upcoming chiller Oddity, Paul Duane's chilling folk tale All You Need Is Death, and Lee Cronin's The Hole in the Ground to his success with Evil Dead Rise. The latest supernatural feature heading to FrightFest 2024 from the Emerald Isle is John Farrelly's An Taibhse (The Ghost), which boasts the title of the ‘first Irish language horror feature film' ever made.

An Taibhse is set during 1852 in the famine era, with Éamon (Tom Kerrisk) and his daughter Máire (Livvy Hill) taking a caretaker position at an isolated mansion during the unforgiving winter months to ensure the grounds and home are kept in pristine condition. While there, their peaceful assignment soon begins to fall apart as a supernatural force begins to trouble Máire and causes Éamon to injure himself while chopping wood, leading him to turn to alcohol to whittle the days away while Máire completes double the workload.

It's hard not to compare the film to The Shining with its narrative similarities and equally sinister cinematography that gives the illusion of a living, breathing haunted house with spirits lurking in every creaking floorboard, every shadowy corner, and every swinging door. But what sets it apart is the focus on a father and daughter rather than a family unit, with the meek Máire, left utterly powerless against her beloved father's crumbling sanity and physical strength. She has no one else to turn to for safety, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats as she desperately seeks a way to appease the spirit and escape the imposing mansion unscathed.

Many of the scares are somewhat predictable to seasoned genre fans, as are many of the narrative beats, but An Taibhse has many visually haunting scenes that can chill right to the bone, such as Éamon's collection of wooden crosses across the sprawling lawn as far as the eye can see, and the devastating final act in which the nature of the spirit becomes clear. Its themes of abuse and crumbling familial dynamics are where An Taibhse really shines, as opposed to its traditional take on the gothic haunted house that often feels underwhelming in comparison.

Hill and Kerrisk deliver captivating performances as the father-daughter duo, with Hill bringing to life Máire's terror and desperation in horrifying clarity, while Kerrisk commands every scene he graces with his unnerving and unpredictable performance as Éamon. While An Taibhse ebbs and flows in its narrative and sometimes fails to hit the mark in terms of its ghostly plot, where it excels is its meditation on family trauma that offers a devastating level to the haunted home.

An Taibhse had its international premiere at FrightFest 2024 on Friday, August 23.