Confirming this lives up to its enormous hype, all things considered. It’s eerie and often very scary, with one particular moment rattling me to my core.

Nic Cage is used sparingly, to great effect. He creates a terrifying movie monster, giving NEON good reason to pull back on using him within the film’s marketing. I predict Maika Monroe’s performance will be overlooked and under discussed. Which is unfortunate as she is equally as fantastic as Cage, just in a much quieter role.

As impressive as NEON’s marketing campaign has been, they hide how plotty the story gets. Akin to other films within this subgenre of horror (serial killer procedurals), there are a lot of moving pieces and the story takes time to unfold. It’s a slow burn.

One of the strongest elements of the film is the world-building and lore. There’s a ton of “show don’t tell” here, organically adding atmosphere and helping ground the story, making the experience even more frightening.

The film’s visual iconography and shot composition are also excellent. This is a gorgeously photographed picture, consistently finding beauty among disturbing imagery.

I was blown away by the tight and haunting first 80 minutes of this thing, but admittedly, it runs out of steam for the final 20. While the finale mostly sticks the landing, it didn’t completely come together for me, tumbling a bit in comparison to the near perfect first two acts.

It would be naive not to recognize the film’s playful silliness. Absent from the marketing, this adds a nice contrast to an otherwise bleak experience. Several of the more humorous moments brings a much needed levity to the film.

After unpacking the film, I feel confident saying it’s the best horror film of the year so far. Possibly the scariest movie since Hereditary as well.