"The Incomer" (2026) Movie Review: Louis Paxton’s Strange, Funny Scottish Folk Tale
It’s rare that a film leaves me stumped on how to approach writing about it, let alone critiquing it. In his directorial debut, Louis Paxton’s absurdist fantasy is a bit like what you might imagine if Robert Eggers suddenly decided to venture into comedy. Reminiscent in many ways of A24’s folk-horror efforts like Eggers’ own The Witch, and Valdimar Jóhannsson’s Lamb, The Incomer takes qualities of old-fashioned fables and sprinkles them with some genuine hilarity. And there’s also a seal-man attempting to entice one of our main characters to step into eternity in the sea.
But that’s not even the weirdest part. The Incomer concerns the story of siblings Isla and Sandy, played wonderfully by Gayle Rankin (The Greatest Showman) and Grant O'Rourke. The pair are a classic duo of one excitable, curious golden retriever type and the other stern, untrusting and loyal to the land. That land is the windswept fringes of Caithness and Sutherland across the Scottish Highlands, providing vibrant but rugged, rolling landscapes perfect for a dark fairy tale.
Furthermore, the land is exactly what the story’s central conflict concerns. Isla and Sandy are the only two inhabitants of Auk Isle- the remote Scottish island where they grew up. They have survived for 30 years by hunting seabirds, speaking to the sea and protecting their home from what they call “incomers.” Their methods for doing so involve what anybody would do when met with a threat: dress up in feathers and masks and loudly “CAW” at them.
One day, a mysterious, awkward man from the mainland shows up to inform them that they are to be relocated. Needless to say, this is not taken kindly to, and land recovery coordinator Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson, Harry Potter) is met with a stone to the head before being hung off a cliff above the sea.
Despite the film’s wacky aesthetic, The Incomer is remarkably easy to get swept up in. It’s not difficult to follow, but just weird enough to keep you undeniably interested, fascinated even. And beneath all that, it has a lot going on thematically. Isla is fiercely loyal to Auk Isle and its stories, and resistant to new ideas, but her brother is eager to know more about life beyond their land.
Whilst Daniel is initially met with hostility by Isla and Sandy, he soon gains their trust by sparking their imaginations with his original story based around life on the mainland: “The Lord of the Local Authority”- a bureaucratic tale about Gandalf, the senior policy advisor and his principal source of wizardry: Wi-Fi.
As he tries to convince the pair that their lives would be better on the mainland (something that he might not even believe himself), it raises some interesting questions around belonging and the “grass is greener” idea. For Daniel, the island becomes somewhere he doesn’t merely “exist.” In reference to his storytelling skills, Isla comments “they must love you on the mainland,” giving Daniel a sense of validation that he doesn’t receive from his mundane job where he is just one in a line of employees under his imposing panto-boss Roz (Michelle Gomez, Doctor Who) and her morally questionable methods. Upon his arrival, he believes that he understands what is best for Isla and Sandy. But soon he begins to question his own assumptions about where he belongs.
Then there’s Calum (Emun Elliott, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)- a colleague under suspension for an arm-breaking incident during his last eviction job. Channeling an over-the-top Rambo/Bear Grylls persona, carrying around a bottle of his own "emergency urine" for survival, Calum is dispatched by Roz to finish the job when Daniel effectively goes missing, leading to some of the film’s most unhinged moments. Calum is a much more aggressive version of the “incomer” Isla and Sandy fear, whilst the meaning of “incomer” for Daniel shifts to “insider.”
The Incomer also looks at how easily swayed we can be by the novelty of “shiny new things”, and how quickly we might be willing to betray our loyalties in favour of them. It looks at what’s important, and what we choose in the end. It touches on immigration, displacement, colonisation and love, but ultimately, it’s a story of human connection, especially between those of different circumstances, backgrounds and beliefs. It’s about curiosity, empathy, compassion, acceptance and embrace. It’s about what we can learn from each other.
The film opens and closes with a narration telling Isla and Sandy’s story, describing the siblings themselves as seabirds, which adds a nice extra mythic touch to the affair, like an oral story told over generations, taking on its own distinct qualities and “half-truths.”
All that said, The Incomer is not necessarily what I might call an easy recommendation. Its blend of folk horror, absurdist comedy, fantasy and social commentary is a lot, and whilst, as mentioned, that mixture is very easy to get swept up in, it could also act as a bit of a barrier for some viewers. The humour is deliberately odd, the characters occasionally verge on the ridiculous, and the film throws a lot of weighty ideas into what is ultimately a very peculiar little fable. There is plenty here to appreciate, but it won’t land the same way for everybody.
From that, The Incomer did find a very receptive audience at Sundance, where it won the NEXT Innovator Award. The film’s oddball sensibility seems particularly suited to a festival that champions distinctive voices, and it certainly feels like the kind of film that can stand out in a festival programme, even if its eccentricity might make it a harder sell to a broader audience.
Perhaps that is why The Incomer left me so stumped in the first place. It refuses to settle neatly into one category. It is strange, funny, unsettling and surprisingly tender, shifting between folk tale, absurdist comedy and something much more human. Like any good story, its meaning seems to change depending on who is telling it. And perhaps, in the end, The Incomer is less about who belongs on Auk Isle than about what happens when we take the time to understand someone else’s version of home.
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