An excellent Irish thriller movie is on TV tonight

From one of the directors of Happy Valley and Netflix's Untamed, the film has an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The story follows a solitary marine biology student named Siobhán (Hermione Corfield, Outlander: Blood of My Blood). As part of her efforts to study deep-sea faunal behavioural patterns and obtain a PhD, she purchases a place on board the Niamh Cinn Óir, a commercial fishing boat sailing off the Irish west coast.

Captained by a married couple (Connie Nielsen and Dougray Scott), Siobhán intends to photograph the vessel's catch for abnormalities. The student's presence on the Niamh sparks tension, however, as its more superstitious crew members believe having a red-haired person on board brings bad luck.

These stress levels only rise when the Niamh's cash-strapped captains sail into forbidden waters to get a bigger catch. There, they encounter a mysterious, dangerous and unprecedented life-form.

Watch the trailer for Sea Fever right here:

The film was particularly praised for its claustrophobic setting, its consistently tense atmosphere, its mysterious central threat, and its thematic exploration of the clash between humans and nature, and science and superstition.

Sea Fever was released amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, which is noteworthy as the movie features an infection plotline. Due to the real-life health crisis, Hardiman's film probably didn't attract the audience it deserved in cinemas, making it ripe for discovery now.

Sea Fever is airing on TV tonight on RTÉ2 at 9.20pm. The sci-fi thriller is also currently streaming on Disney+.

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight (Friday, 11 September).