Francesca (Olivia Bond/ Kika Magalhaes) is raised on a secluded farm. Her mother (Diana Agostini) was an eye surgeon from Portugal and practices her craft on cows with her daughter apprentice. Mom explains there is an eye disease which cause psychosis. Francesca becomes psychotic, but shows no other symptoms that would pinpoint a specific disease.

The production is in black and white and divided into three sections like a play (Mother, Father, Family). This makes it look like Gothic art and critics will swoon all over it, in spite of the films short comings. The plot had holes in it. Certainly Francesca had more contact with the outside world than what we saw. Who paid the light bill? How did she learn to drive? Can a person really survive 11 years chained to a concrete floor in their underwear? Wouldn't they freeze in winter? No, the focus was on Francesca, who we really didn't know as a person, other than she was mentally ill. We pitied her. It was a sad film, but not a tear jerker.

Guide: No swearing. Implied sex. Nudity (Kika Magalhes)

I do understand if some feel like this isn't really a horror movie. But there are different horror movies and some are more fantastical, if that's what you want to call them. Some are understated and do not try to sell a certain point too much and so forth. This is a real slow burner and just for that will not please many horror fans who like their Horror to be explicit.

Don't get me wrong, this does get dirty and mean, but it's also very weird and way disturbing. Like really out there disturbing. You could compare this to things like Maniac, but with a family twist. It's really not entertainment as such, but it does succeed in having a despicable person in the lead and still be engaging for some weird reason. I can't really put my finger on it, it may be the black and white nature of the way it is shot, making it look classy, sort of. Whatever it is the filmmaker succeeded in telling a suspenseful story. If it's to your liking or not will depend on your taste - no pun intended

Little girl Francisca (a fine and moving portrayal by Olivia Bond lives in a secluded farmhouse with her former surgeon mother (superbly played by Diana Agostini) and dour father (the excellent Paul Nazak). Following a harrowing run-in with lethal drifter Charlie (a supremely creepy turn by Will Brill) and the deaths of both her parents, Francisca grows up to become a deeply unhinged and dangerous young woman (a brave and fearless performance by Kika Magalhaes) who resorts to some really drastic measures for the sake of companionship.

Writer/director Nicolas Pesce adroitly crafts a potently brooding gloom-doom mood with a strong underlying feeling of sadness and despair caused by extreme isolation, relates the grimly compelling story at a deliberate pace, offers several startling moments of macabre beauty, and makes a poignant and profound statement about the basic human need for love, company, and intimacy.

Better still, Pesce presents all sorts of horrific stuff in a low-key and matter-of-fact manner that makes said horrific stuff come across as chillingly mundane and normal. In addition, Pesce's major artistic triumph is the way he somehow manages to depict Francisca as a heart-breakingly tragic figure who elicits a complex mix of fear and pity from the viewer. Gorgeously shot in stunning black and white by Zach Kuperstein, this deliciously dark and depraved doozy packs an exceptionally powerful emotional punch.