This is one of those films that it’s better to go into not really knowing much about it, which makes it really difficult to write a review about it. So if you are planning to watch this, perhaps stop now and come back to my review after you have seen it.

There are a few things that are signalled immediately at the start of the film. One is that it is filmed in 35 mm, which is an odd thing to say at the outset and feels like a flex. Perhaps it’s a little bit more understandable when you get to the end credits and find that the cinematographer was actor Giovanni Ribisi and so is maybe akin to celebrity status for cinematography in a horror film.

We also get an opening title narration  that brings us up to speed on the story – a serial killer has been terrorising the United States for two years and we are about to see the final few kills shown in six chapters.

It’s a self-conscious start, and fits with the slightly hammy nature of some aspects of its opening vibe. The titles are very 70s, we have an extended scene of a terrorised woman (Willa Fitzgerald) in what looks like a prison outfit or scrubs, running towards us across a field. She is being chased by a mustachioed brute of a man (Kyle Gallner) with a shotgun.

It’s the kind of horror film where there is sudden discordant sound whenever something shocking is on the screen or something threatening and it creates an unsettling and uncomfortable mood. And like Memento (2000) or Pulp Fiction (1994), director JT Mollner deliberately gives us the chapters out of order. We are plunged straight into the terrified tracking of this woman by this man, through forests, across fields, and into an isolated farm house owned by ex hippies Frederick (Ed Begley Jr) and Genevieve (Barbara Hershey).

We also cut back to the start that shows the connection between antagonist and victim, dubbed only the Lady and the Demon.  I’m not gonna tell you any more, suffice to say that the jumbling of the chapters plays on our emotions and assumptions in a rather clever way. It’s not that it is unexpected, we are so literate now that any promotion that says don’t read up on this film before you see it signals some kind of twist and I found myself second-guessing it from the opening narration.

It’s not that this is necessarily showing us anything surprising, it is presenting it with a certain amount of cleverness that you can’t help but admire. It did stop me from becoming emotionally engaged with the story though, and I think in any other kind of a genre I would’ve found this off-putting but horror often feels like a fun thrill ride where you are willing to forgive things that you might not in a more serious drama.

The cinematography is fine, I can’t actually remember any scenes particularly significant or where the 35mm nature was apparent. It was kind of cool knowing that Ribisi is multitalented. What stands out most, other than the clever structure, are the performances by Fitzgerald (who I last saw as Roscoe in Reacher) and Gallner. Fitzgerald is particularly good, especially in the final scenes.

As the lights went up, my daughter asked me if I had enjoyed it and it feels like enjoy is not quite the right term. It is quite an uncomfortable watch, which is what you want from a horror, and I had a feeling that it was going to stick with me. Now it is the next day and I feel a little bit more positive about it, still dwelling on some of those scenes and the emotions they provoke.