It Comes at Night (2017)

So do I...

Paranoia runs rampant in the titter-inducing It Comes at Night. After the world has been ravaged by a deadly infectious disease, a family lives isolated deep in the woods until one day when another survivor ends up on their doorstep. The stark, bare-bones setup effectively builds up an air of tension and dread where the true horror exists. This one won't make you feel good, ironically.

3 wet dreams out of 5

Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025)

Basically functioning as a feature-length music video for The Weeknd, this artsy psychological thriller is a bit like a Lynch-coded version of Purple Rain.

A drug-addled pop singer (Abel Tesfaye, playing himself) suffers from vocal cord strain and an impending nervous breakdown from a toxic relationship, when he meets an adoring, possibly unhinged fan after one of his shows. This film might be striving at something more than skin deep, but it still can't help feeling like a puffed-up vanity piece for exploring one's demons on screen.

2 blinding lights out of 5

KRISHA [2015]

Trey Edward Shults makes his film-making debut with his shoestring-budget passion project Krisha.
Taking place over the afternoon before a Thanksgiving dinner, the 60-something year old title character, recovering from some heavy addictions isn't sure if she's quite ready for re-uniting with her estranged family.
Krisha has a raw intimacy that is so uncomfortably personal you almost feel like you're invading someone's privacy while watching it.  Lead Krisha Fairchild is an absolute diamond in the rough as she proves with numerous tight close-ups that ooze with fragile emotion.  Shults' claustrophobic camerawork is quite often effective but occasionally distracts a bit more than it should.  Nevertheless, with a debut like this, it's obvious Schults is a name to watch out for in the near future.

4 awkward talks out of 5