Citadel (film)

Citadel is a 2012 Irish psychological horror film and the feature-length directorial debut of Ciarán Foy, who also wrote the screenplay. The story follows Tommy (Aneurin Barnard), a widower left to care for his infant daughter after a gang attack kills his wife and leaves him with agoraphobia. The film belongs to the "hoodie horror" subgenre.

**Plot** Tommy and his pregnant wife Joanne are moving out of their condemned tower block. While Tommy is trapped in the lift, a group of hooded teenagers corners Joanne. Tommy watches helplessly as they beat her and inject her with a syringe. She survives long enough for doctors to save the baby, but remains in a coma. Eight months later, Tommy lives in a run-down council estate with his daughter Elsa. He suffers from agoraphobia and is terrified to leave the house. He agrees to take Joanne off life support, and a nurse named Marie consoles him. At the funeral, a foul-mouthed priest warns Tommy that the feral gang will return for his daughter. The priest is accompanied by a blind boy named Danny, who seems able to "see" Tommy by sensing fear. As the estate is being redeveloped, Tommy is one of the last tenants. The hoodies break in and ransack the place, apparently searching for Elsa. Tommy barricades himself in the bathroom until Marie finds him the next morning. She lets him stay with her and suggests the attacks were random, not connected. Tommy insists on seeing the priest again. The priest explains that the tower block is a nesting place for creatures no longer human. He tells an urban myth: a pregnant junkie gave birth to twins in the building; they grew up alone, had an incestuous relationship, and produced a blind, feral mutant breed that senses fear. These creatures kidnap children and turn them into their own kind. Danny was rescued before fully transforming. Tommy refuses to help the priest. Later, while walking through an underpass with Marie and Elsa, they encounter a group of hoodies. Marie approaches them to prove they are harmless, but they attack and kill her. Tommy flees with Elsa, but the ferals chase them. He boards a bus, but the hoodies swarm it, attack the driver and passengers, beat Tommy, and take Elsa. Desperate, Tommy agrees to help the priest blow up the tower block. They enter with Danny, who uses his ability to mask their presence. Tommy is lured away by a baby's cry, and ferals attack. T