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This crime horror film, from director Osgood Perkins, was high on my watchlist last year, but it wasn't until fairly long after its release that I was able to watch it. From what I've seen, people either love or hate this film, for the most part - I was hoping I'd fall on the former side of that line. Either way, I expected this to be a pretty dark and sinister horror.

I adored the film's cinematography wholeheartedly. It was full of interesting camera angles, satisfying framing, good uses of empty and negative space, slow zooms and lingering shots. I found it all immensely fascinating, especially with how effectively the eyes were drawn to the peripherals and doorways of each shot. It made very tense scenes even more tense.

The lack of non-diegetic sound for much of the film gave an intriguing emphasis to the diegetic sounds of the film. And when the music did come into it, it was that much more effective. Every single scene in the fi felt sinister and unnerving in some way, and a great deal of the credit for that goes for the use of sound and music.

I really enjoyed the narrative of this film, it was gripping, it was dark, it was even a little shocking, at points. The underlying tension to seemingly every scene made for very uncomfortable viewing in the best way. There were scenes, especially in Part Three, where I couldn't help but hold my breath. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it did have the feel of a 'Zodiac' or a 'Seven', which I enjoyed greatly.

I felt that Maika Monroe was completely mesmerising in her starring role. She had me locked into her performance pretty much immediately, and kept me so for the whole film. She had a believability to much of her performance that I was very much enamoured with, and she was very good at appearing to be both experienced and out of her depth with the events unfolding in a very sympathetic way.

Nicolas Cage was very creepy and straight up bizarre, and left a very memorable impression, despite his relative lack of screentime. There was one scene where he got a little too wacky, but aside from that, I thought this was a pretty good performance. I would have liked to have seen a tiny but more of him, but, considering the story, I understand it.

I also thought that Blair Underwood provided an extremely solid performance for one of the main supporting characters, especially towards the end of the film, where his character's more sympathetic side really shone through. Furthermore, I thought that, no matter the scene, he was able to have decent chemistry with each actor he was working with.

I liked Alicia Witt's performance - she was good, but she didn't feature as much as I'd hoped, considering her role. Meanwhile, I thought that the likes of Michelle Choi-Lee, Dakota Daulby, Lauren Acala, and Kiernan Shipka all deserved at least a mention for what were a collection of pretty strong, though small, supporting performances.

Overall, whilst I know and understand that this film wasn't for everyone, I loved it. I wonder if some of the more mixed reception to this film has to do with its marketing. Because this definitely wasn't the "scariest film" I've ever seen, but it was definitely a really intriguing serial killer thriller with strong horror elements. I for one thought this was an excellent film, and I will absolutely be watching it again soon.