A SYRINGE falls to the floor in slow motion as a dying Judd Hirsch looks on in horror.

The ominous opening sets the tone for a dark and brooding film that is at first, family drama, then psychological thriller, before heading into horror territory. It is a balancing act that is ably handled by director Michael Wechsler in his second feature.

Dr Nathaniel Shellner (Hirsch), a world-renowned psychiatrist and Nobel Prize winner, is dying of cancer and has gathered his children at the family home to celebrate what could be his last birthday. Of the four children, three were adopted in Shellner’s time visiting war-torn orphanages.

All is not well when adopted son Tommy (played with wide-eyed intensity by Ryan O’Nan) arrives determined to find the ashes of his dead dog and spouting accusations of sinister experiments carried out by his father on him and his adopted siblings.

As the snow thickens and the temperature drops, Tommy’s ravings risk tearing the family apart as one-by-one each sibling begins to question the truth of the man they call dad.

The Red Robin is a deliciously dark tale that uses its wintry New Jersey setting to chilling effect.

Despite being confined to a chair for the majority of his performance, Hirsch’s Shellner looms large over proceedings but never to the point of overshadowing the rest of the cast – a mixture of well-known US television and indie film faces.

For a film that uses MK-Ultra mind control as a plot device, it’s fitting that Wechsler manages to continually manipulate the viewers' expectations, right up until the final reel.