10 Slow Burn Horror Movies With An Underwhelming Pay Off

Set within the picturesque, snow-covered forest on the outskirts of a quiet town, Rose: A Love Story (the feature debut from Jennifer Sheridan) sees lovestruck couple Sam (Matt Stokoe) and Rose (Sophie Rundle) make a life for themselves in a remote cabin.

But there’s a darker reason for their isolation. Rose suffers from a mysterious disease which means she can’t be exposed to sunlight and needs a steady diet of blood to quell violent tendencies.

Like its title suggests, Rose: A Love Story puts its focus on the relationship between the central couple. Thanks to extraordinary performances from Rundell and Stokoe (who also wrote the screenplay), this is a tender and surprisingly moving tale of how far we’d go for the ones we love.

But the threat of their discovery hangs over them like a shadow. It's only a matter of time until the inevitable happens, at which point the film enters horror territory.

Though the vampiric carnage was foreshadowed throughout the script, this payoff felt more like it was added to satisfy genre fans rather than to serve the story the writer wanted to tell.

While brief, the violence is so out of place it becomes comical. In this case, less would've been more.