Where the film most excels is in its drawn out dialogue scenes, as Vaughn and Marcus try to keep a cool head around the locals and avoid arousing any suspicion. Vaughn is grief-stricken and prepared to turn himself in before the boy’s father arrives and Marcus kills him, turning an honest accident into a murder and leaving the lads no choice but to cover it up. That he does, only instead of a deer, Vaughn inadvertently shoots – and kills – a young boy on a hiking trip. The following day, nursing hangovers, the lads head out on the hunt, with the more-experienced Marcus keen for Vaughn to get his first kill. They start off with the drinking, finding a local pub where Marcus’ drug-fuelled antics catch the eye of the more-reserved townsfolk, including de facto leader Logan (Tony Curran), who is friendly but stern. Lowden stars as Vaughn, a mild-mannered Edinburger who has a baby on the way, prompting his best mate Marcus (McCann) to drag him out of the city and up to the highlands for a weekend of deer stalking and hard drinking.

Set in a small town trying to keep itself afloat, the film dabbles with themes of tight-knit community and economic anxiety, but it’s real raison d’etre is suspense and heart-in-mouth tension. The Scottish Highlands are as menacing as they are majestic in Matt Palmer’s Calibre, a nerve-shredding thriller that sees Jack Lowden and Martin McCann’s city boys caught in a rural nightmare when a hunting trip goes badly wrong.

Calibre 2018 reviews