Movie Review: Dagger’s Inn (2026)

Daggers Inn Movie Review by Matt Boiselle

Daggers Inn – directed by James Smith and written by James Smith and Caroline Spence, and starring Charlie Bond, Terry Bamberger and Julian Clapton

Synopsis: When an enigmatic woman arrives in a remote English village the locals are both intrigued and leery, with their suspicions growing after she begins to delve deeply into their innermost secrets.

Who doesn’t love a good British mystery?? Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I laid eyes on one, but that’s neither hither nor yon – today, I’m diving into Director James Smith’s “Daggers Inn” where we get to witness what happens when a town newcomer has more on their mind than just playing nice-nice with the new neighbors. Donna (Anna Danvers) has just arrived in the little village known as Haxanbury, but she’s not coming quietly…she’s got cold-blooded vengeance on her mind with a backstory to cement her actions. You see, a couple of years ago her sister was brutally murdered in this same village, in a lake found tied to a chair – now if that isn’t cause enough to come in and want to start splitting skulls then I don’t know what is. In any event, Donna takes somewhat of a higher, more intellectual approach to her investigative skills.

Seems to be that a few of the village’s power-players had a hand in her sister’s death, and Donna lies in wait until the truth can be uncovered…and the sad part here is that we as the audience have to wait, and wait, and wait through what seems like endless rounds of interrogative dialogue & questioning. It wants to get us all to that honey pot of a payoff, but good lord, are we dragged through some sharp thorns in order to get there. Cinematography is heads-above here, but I would have liked to have seen more of an expansive burrow into the town’s darker infrastructure, but you get what you get. Performances are solid as well, with Danvers getting the gold skull as the ever-inquisitive, yet doggedly-determined lead – she pierces the eyes of the screen with a fierceness that’s appreciated, and it gives those slower-paced moments of the film a little juice to make it over the hill in quick bursts. In closing, “Daggers Inn” wants to be a whodunit, but instead limps to a “guess they did it” conclusion – this was simply a one-and-done for me.

Daggers Inn is available to stream as of March 23rd, 2026.