Amer

Aficionados of 1970s giallo may get a thrill from this art house homage to the Euro-slasher genre. The debut feature of director duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani gushes with the baroque style of Italian masters Mario Bava and Dario Argento as they tease out a psychedelic fever dream depicting three snapshots in the life of one tormented young woman. This involves being chased around a mansion when she's a girl by a loopy lady in a veil and a crusty old cadaver, experiencing a sensual adolescent encounter with a biker gang, and, finally, having a cutting confrontation with a leather-gloved killer on her return to the family home as an adult. Dialogue is sparse but cinematic flourish is everywhere - whip-cracking sound, flamboyant cinematography, superslick editing. It may be too avant-garde and surreal for horror fans who like a little more meat on the bone when it comes to story and gore, but you can't knock Cattet and Forzani's undoubted passion for the giallo genre.