Films like The Strange Thing About the Johnsons.

The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011) reads as Heavy, measured, extreme drama / horror, 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.

Funny Games (2008) poster
1. Funny Games2008

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

The Tribe (2014) poster
2. The Tribe2014

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Ape (2009) poster
3. The Ape2009

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace; trades toward a grounded, familiar shape.

A Hole in My Heart (2005) poster
4. A Hole in My Heart2005

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

Afterschool (2009) poster
5. Afterschool2009

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

I Stand Alone (1998) poster
6. I Stand Alone1998

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

Miss Violence (2013) poster
7. Miss Violence2013

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Kill List —repeat guard2011
8. Kill List — repeat guard2011

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

Violation (2020) poster
9. Violation2020

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

In My Skin (2002) poster
10. In My Skin2002

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Saint Maud (2020) poster
11. Saint Maud2020

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the pitch-dark outlook — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Living and the Dead (2006) poster
12. The Living and the Dead2006

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

These are The Strange Thing About the Johnsons’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.

Find my film for tonight — 60 sec →