Amulet

A moody, brooding chiller that goes from slow-boil creaks to rapturous, hallucinogenic madness.

Though the performances are less than memorable, and the narrative would certainly collapse under the weight of even low-level scrutiny, Garai nonetheless emerges as a formidable stylist.

This chamber-horror oddity from the English actress-turned-auteur is too weird, too wonky; intermittently gross, and often gruelling.

Perhaps doesn't all come out in the wash, but it's certainly a singular, substance-rich experience.

It's stylish and well-acted, and leads up to a surreal image of evil.

A loose, hurried ending can't quite live up to the effective sense of dread created in the first two acts, but Amulet is still a fascinating, nightmarish debut from Garai.

Unfortunately, the story finds itself lacking in successfully crystalizing many of its muddled themes along with its inconsistent world-building.

It may not be perfect and it includes some questionable narrative choices, but Amulet is still directed wonderfully by Garai.

With her feature writing-directing debut, Romola Garai creates an oppressively creepy atmosphere in which a nasty horror mystery plays out.

As the bumps in the attic grow progressively more alarming, Garai gets herself in a terrible tangle with an ambitious story involving demons, deities and eternal damnation.