Along with Nordic noir and French noir, here is something of the Belgian variety. On TV, it would be a real candidate for boxset binge-watching, but maybe it’s too hardcore for consumption on that scale: a grippingly brutal and unwatchably macabre forensic thriller, directed by Hans Herbots (who also directed episodes of Spiral) and adapted from Mo Hayden’s 2001 crime bestseller – transplanted to Belgium from the original south London setting.
Nick Cafmeyer (Geert Van Rampelberg) is a hardbitten cop who still lives in his boyhood home, from where his brother was abducted by a paedophile when they were children and never found. To add to this cold case, there is a new one: a child abuser called the Troll is now taking and imprisoning children along (temporarily) with their parents – and Cafmeyer comes to believe that the culprit is part of the same underground ring that included his brother’s kidnapper. There is a nauseous twist or lurch halfway through that puts everything in a queasy new light. It is claustrophobic and disquieting, put over with gruesome conviction. A Hollywood remake set in the deep south can’t be far off.
