Hoarder

Medical student Melissa (Daisy Jelley) and her boss Eric (Paul Casar) are on routine call out to administer the flu vaccine to the housebound and not able to get to their local GP.

When they come to Fred Hunt’s (David Sterne) home they find a decaying house with Mrs Hunt (Terry Bamberger) in a desperately poor state of mental and physical health. The inside of the house is full to the brim with the sort of detritus that would turn the stomach of any TV clean up team. Nevertheless Eric and Melissa are there to do a job.

From the outset it appears that Fred is a grump and a functioning alcoholic not terribly keen on outsiders. Melissa goes to make a tea and discovers a young boy, borderline feral, hungry for food. Eric meanwhile has disappeared and when Melissa goes looking for him only finds a mobile.

Written and directed by James Owen this is a creepy decay riddled house that Melissa appears to find endless as she tries to find the Hunts and Eric.

However the yuk factor will only get you so far and Owen develops a fair amount of tension and dread as the film progresses. Things take another turn when Melissa’s boyfriend turns up and is promptly pulled into the cellar.

That could be seen as quite comical and with Eric’s constant complaining and Fred’s crankiness while drinking himself to oblivion or for self-preservation this could have gone in a humorous direction. It doesn’t as when the monster appears it’s not in any way funny especially when Melissa has to deal with it and Doris’s head.

Hoarder had its world premiere at Tubi FrightFest London 2026.