Films like If There Be Thorns.

If There Be Thorns (2015) reads as Heavy, steady, measured tv-movie / thriller, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

Peacock (2010) poster
1. Peacock2010

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the chilly detachment; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

The Devil on Trial (2023) poster
2. The Devil on Trial2023

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Exposed (2016) poster
3. Exposed2016

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the chilly detachment; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Compulsion (2013) poster
4. Compulsion2013

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the patient, unhurried pace; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Black Heaven (2010) poster
5. Black Heaven2010

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Butterfly Room (2012) poster
6. The Butterfly Room2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Stereo (2014) poster
7. Stereo2014

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Amnesiac (2015) poster
8. Amnesiac2015

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Static (2012) poster
9. Static2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Wrecked (2010) poster
10. Wrecked2010

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Guest Room (2021) poster
11. The Guest Room2021

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Deepwater (2005) poster
12. Deepwater2005

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the chilly detachment — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

These are If There Be Thorns’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

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