Savage House

Savage comes from the Latin, through the French sauvage, a transformation of silvaticus of the same roots as sylvan, of the forest. Some sources suggest we have records of it as a surname, as here, before it related to animals. Others still suggest that as it wound its way from Romance languages to English it spent a time as salvage, and as a film that's perhaps more apt than most.

Filming was mostly completed in 2023, so this has spent some time on the shelf. Time has not helped it, but I'm not sure what would. We can calculate exactly when it's set, there's a well documented event in the middle of it that anchors it the 22nd of April 1715. That's Julian though, and as with Mr Fellowe's Downton Abbeys there's a sense that nostalgia or period detail will do lifting where the script can't quite suspend disbelief or even hold attention.

That event is an eclipse, and as the astronomically inclined might note one of those key details is wrong. That's even with dialogue pointing out that it'll be in a new moon. Since it's half, that's more accurate than Apocalypto, but talking about these things could become circular. Instead we can talk about the cast, familiar faces or bit parts all are doing capable work but it's in service of something that doesn't quite.

Richard E Grant and Claire Foy are the eponymous house's holders, Lord and Lady. Daughter Fanny is a charming turn from Kila Lord Cassidy. In addition to her telescope is a sprawling dollhouse that's similar to the family home whose exteriors are mostly Somerset's Montacute House. It houses her pet mice, but as glossy as they are they're not the only pests around.

There are Jacobites, their rising at the moment a matter of speculation, a letter to the Pope, the usual. There is pox, its rising at the moment a matter of itching and scratching. The makeup effects are among a slew of grisly details. Those with misophonia would be well to avoid this, though not solely for that reason. The game is less afoot than after-ripe. Decay abounds, and while maturity can be sauce to some it's awful to others.

Savage House has servants: Jack Farthing's Mr Halifax, Bel Powley's Dorothy. Mr Halifax is a valet, a capable second in duels, and entrenched in the ever more complex social machinations at Savage House. Dorothy and her clotted cream might have her finger on another trigger but she's no less embroiled in proceedings.

It's those that would be Savage House's strength if they worked. Writer/director Peter Glanz last helmed a feature film in 2014, and a decade and then change between it and now doesn't inspire confidence. In the interim he contributed to the writing of a Captain America but his début feature, 2014's The Longest Week, similarly spent years between shooting and release. Our characters have shorter gaps between those, even refractory, but pacing is where Savage House suffers most. Robert Bathurst's narration feels like it's an attempt to rescue a story but if it was intended from the beginning then it's another thing that feels off from the off.

There are plenty of films with protagonists who are difficult to like, and they're not all directed by the Safdies or the Coens. Even those where things just get worse have some sense of resolution, even catharsis, but Savage House doesn't manage it. A black comedy without a punchline is one thing, but it's not particularly amusing on the way. Even then, spending time in good company could lift it, but in addition to being unpleasant the Savages are, for the most part, uninteresting.

There are some excellent bits of production design, though at times the grotesque pushes past any pretension. There's a play within a play, of sorts, but at a certain point commedia dell'arte becomes clownishness. If this were another circus act it might be juggling, but for all its moving parts it never manages to catch. If films like The Favourite appealed then know Savage House isn't even one to bookmark.

Reviewed on: 04 Jun 2026