Trial run

When she is offered an assignment photographing rare penguins, Rosemary, a middle-distance runner, leaves her family for six months to live in a cottage on the coast. Her son, also a keen runner, devises a training schedule for her on his computer and, along with his sister, visits her frequently for running sessions. Despite regular contact with family and friends, Rosemary is disturbed by unexplained attacks on her house, strange noises in the night, and intimidation from her misogynist neighbour and his dog. Even when the attacks escalate she insists on staying in the cottage until one night, alone and terrified, she is forced to run for her life. This feminist approach to the psychological thriller portrays its female protagonists as strong, independent and quite capable of looking after themselves while effectively utilising lighting, music and shooting styles usually associated with this genre to build suspense and tension.