The Black Oak

An ancient execution. A dark musical legacy. A gruesome murder that defies all logic.

In 1575, a brutal execution on Wick Hill sealed an elemental Vow of Vengeance. For four hundred and fifty years, the ancient, twisted oak has sat in a barren, silent circle. Watching. Waiting.

In the present day, Jack Cary is living on the margins. Once the legendary drummer for an infamous heavy metal band, Jack now drifts along the Thames on a black narrowboat, plagued by vivid, terrifying nightmares that compel him to scrawl dark, complex anthems. He has no idea that an ancestral legacy binds him to the sinister history of Wick Hill.

Until Eleanor comes for him one more time.

When a local teenager is found grotesquely killed on the rusted iron gates of the hill, covered in bizarre occult details, DI Lisa Harper is handed a case that shatters the boundaries of rational police investigation. As the ritualistic violence escalates, she is drawn into a historical puzzle, uncovering a hidden substrate where ancient sorcery and modern life lethally collide.

Caught alongside Jack in a web of corrupted bloodlines, dark secrets, and a deceptive evil closing in, Lisa must race to uncover the truth before the forces anchored to the oak claim their final toll.

The Black Oak is an atmospheric, tightly paced British Technical Noir thriller. Combining the gritty realism of a classic police procedural with the haunting weight of folk horror, this cinematic debut is perfect for fans of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London, Neil Gaiman, and high-stakes supernatural mysteries.