My favorite Luis Bunuel film, and an all-time favorite in general, sees a group of upper-class elitists affected by a force they can't understand, which keeps them from leaving a fancy dinner party. Over the course of days, they head in a Lord of the Flies direction, sniping and tearing at each other while simultaneously critiquing each other's etiquette and bearing. Bunuel is, as usual, scathing about the pretensions and self-satisfaction of the bourgeoisie, but there's also a sense of…

At the TIFF Midnight Madness screening where I saw this, the programmer stood up beforehand to inform us that the film was 20 minutes of setup, and then an hour of crazy assaultive imagery. At some point a few minutes into the film, during what was literally a montage of disconnected shots (meat, blood, gun, knife, woman, meat, bigger gun), I thought "if this is the setup part, we're in real trouble." There is a plot here, but it can…

This movie is funny. This movie is political. This movie is intelligent and wicked and very, very calculated. This movie is sometimes visually stunning, and impeccably acted.

But mostly, it's scary as hell.

For the love of cinema, do not watch the spoilery-ass trailers. Do not read any reviews unless you trust the reviewers to be circumspect about giving away the plot. Go in as blind as possible and just let the story's surprises unfold. Assuming you're okay with scary…