The relationship between parents and their children is supposed to be a special one; a bond joined in blood and DNA that cannot be broken.

This isn’t taking into considering what little shits they can be, who quickly grow into blood-sucking leeches, which eventually make you start to think that getting a puppy instead would have been the better way to go.

This latest Apple original film certainly leans heavily into the latter, when a mother soon finds herself doing anything to protect her daughter.

It’s fair to say that Kate (Julianne Moore) has gone through the emotional mill recently; having divorced from her husband Richard (Kyle MacLachlan) – with whom she had her daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) with – she then embarked on a relationship with Patty (Kristina Valada-Viars), who then tragically died in an accident on their farm.

Eight months on and Kate is still trying to get her life together, trying to resume giving horse lessons on the farm.

Her daughter isn’t much comfort, having issues with drugs that makes her less than dependable, with the only times she returns home is for money.

One such visit sees her return, allegedly clean, having broken up with her druggie boyfriend. Kate is the supportive mother, as you would expect, despite the way her daughter has been treating her.

And then Claire returns home again, in a terrible state, after a camping trip with her boyfriend goes terribly wrong, that sees him dead.

Because she’ll do anything to look after her flesh and blood, Kate tells Claire that she’ll take care of it - and she does – but her good deed soon turns into a personal nightmare.

British director Michael Pearce’s latest comes across as a homage to those psychological thrillers from the eighties, Like Fatal Attraction, that didn’t really care that they trod heavily into absurd territory.

The premise is a simple one – what lengths would a mother go to to protect their child? And the answer here is the longest of lengths.

And you’ll buy into it depending on how you feel about one particular scene, that finds Kate declare a piece of information to her daughter; if you feel she would give up this piece of Intel, then the rest of the film will come across as less ludicrous, but if you don’t, well, it’s just too much to swallow.

It’s not helped that the film’s middle section is incredibly sluggish, like traipsing through treacle, as we slowly get to the final third where it thankfully picks up.

It’s certainly a brave role for current ‘it’ girl Sweeney, who made a name for herself in the risqué show Euphoria; she plays a highly unlikable individual, who clearly takes advantage of her mother’s good nature without a second thought.

Moore is solid as the protective mother, but again, much of her role is dictated by that one key scene mentioned, which could prove to be too farfetched for many.

Domhnall Gleeson, who plays a bad boy, continues to excel, proving he has great range, making him all the more watchable.

If you can park the ridiculous nature of it, as one had to for so many of those psychological eighties flicks, then Echo Valley, with its strong cast and admittedly sweet twist, has just enough to keep you gripped until the end.