Devan Suber

Chiarella has a skill for creating scares beyond the obvious, but Leviticus (which takes its name from the biblical verse often used against homosexuality) gains a massive jolt from a near-perfect melding of theme and concept.

Familiar as it may be, Obsession provides a firm introduction to multiple budding talents while providing all the sick thrills and nasty twists on morality one could ask for.

Elliott Tuttle’s film seeks to unsettle, question, and, yes, provoke you. But his masterful two-hander wants, more than anything, to extend understanding to both men at the center, asking you to see them as flawed humans with depth and complexity, even if we’d rather not.

Faces of Death gives the people what they want while constantly probing the viewer as to why they want it, all the way through to an ending as bleak as the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Danielle Deadwyler shines in 40 Acres, a post-apocalyptic home-invasion thriller that injects heart and soul into standard thrills.