The Thing with Feathers

2025 1h 39m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 45

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Following the death of his wife, a young father's hold on reality crumbles, and a strange presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Benedict Cumberbatch
Dad
David Thewlis
Crow (voice)
Sam Spruell
Paul
Vinette Robinson
Amanda
Leo Bill
Dr. Bowden
Garry Cooper
Keith
Jessie Cave
School Mum
Adam Basil
The Demon

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dylan Southern
Writers: Dylan Southern
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 13% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dylan Southern, shot by Ben Fordesman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Zebedee Budworth. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor George Cragg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Benedict Cumberbatch and David Thewlis and Sam Spruell carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt27773954 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 45 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dylan Southern directs. Ben Fordesman behind the camera. Zebedee Budworth scores. George Cragg cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 13% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released last year.
3Directed by Dylan Southern, shot by Ben Fordesman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Zebedee Budworth. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor George Cragg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Benedict Cumberbatch and David Thewlis and Sam Spruell carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt27773954 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 45 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "based on novel or book", "widower", "death of mother", "death of wife".

The technical file

Cinematography: Ben Fordesman
Original score: Zebedee Budworth
Editing: George Cragg
Production design: Suzie Davies
Costume design: Sophie O'Neill
Makeup / hair: Wakana Yoshihara
Sound: Per Boström
Runtime: 99 min · 1h 39m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $6,000,000
Box office: $774,063
Return: 13% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Thing with Feathers (2025)

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Dylan Southern

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-11-26
★ 7/10
Whilst we don’t know exactly what happened, we quickly discover that a father (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his two young sons (Henry & Richard Boxall) are recovering from the fairly traumatic death of their wife/mother. Dad is trying to put as brave a face as he can on daily life as he tries to keep the kids motivated at home and at school and whilst he continues his work as an animator for a darker, more adult, market. Things start to take quite an ominous tone at his increasingly disordered home, when he begins to hear things, to see things - and a crow he has been drawing seems central to those visions. For us watching, it is pretty clear what the purpose of this bird - in it’s more erect and cruelly verbal manifestation - actually is, but of course he is completely oblivious as the film splits into chapters for dad, the sons and even the bird itself as we explore the concept and profound impact of grief. The two Boxall lads deliver their part really quite engagingly, but it’s really the tour de force from Cumberbatch that makes this worth the watch. His character is struggling to come to terms with his loss, and though certainly not neglectful of his family his attempts to compartmentalise his feelings, to shield the boys from the excesses of his desperate emotional state and, for that matter, to immerse himself in a world of professional escapism fuelled by Scotch are really quite powerfully delivered by an actor who genuinely comes across as a man completely lost. The representations of the feathered spectre introduce quite a degree of psychological menace, even violence, and these also contribute to the general sense of exasperation that this man, and to an extent his sons, experience as they are just old enough to be cognisant of the disaster that has hit them all, but not of it’s longer term ramifications. The soundtrack also adds an effective element of melancholy and frenzy at times, and I was frankly quite surprised at my own level of investment in this family’s predicament as this moved on. Maybe not a film to watch if you are a recent survivor of the grieving process, but otherwise it takes a different slant on the topic, and is worth a look.

Production companies