I expected flashbacks or maybe visions – but not full-fledged vignettes telling the story of previous Hoffhienze generations. Each generation’s ‘short’ had its own director, own story, and paid attention to every detail of that period.

But every moment of the movie takes place in a single room, a room that can be bright, lit by candlelight, or darkened by the secrets. The one room approach also gave the movie a live theatre feeling – like everything was occurring directly in front of you.

The most interesting choice is how it was shot – and that’s what lends the movie its name. A stuffed moose head, along with two other long-dead critters line the walls of the room, and they are our eyes the violence that unfolds. It is through them that we bear witness to the worst moments in this family’s history. That also means there is a voyeuristic quality to the camera work, something akin to a detached observer that takes in every moment.

‘The Moose Head Over the Mantel’ veers from traditional horror, there isn’t a boogie man or deranged killer in a mask – there is only the worst of the human condition. The house isn’t haunted – but their psyches are.

It’s definitely worth a watch if you are a fan or dark dramas or horror that takes risks. But more than that, it’s a breath of originality. They invite the viewer into the story, you become the moose, the observer. It’s a fresh take on filmmaking within the horror genre.