The Blackcoat's Daughter

Oz Perkins' first film, glacial, wintry, and the timeline is doing something you will probably only spot late.

Two girls are left at a Catholic boarding school in upstate New York over the February break because their parents have not arrived. In a parallel strand a young woman is travelling toward the same town.

Perkins, the son of Anthony Perkins, directs like somebody who is not in a hurry: long static frames, empty corridors, a boiler room, and Elvis Perkins' score, which is largely low brass and does most of the dread.

Emma Roberts and Kiernan Shipka are both excellent and Shipka in particular is given very little dialogue.

It is truly sad rather than frightening, and the last twenty minutes reframe the whole thing as a film about loneliness rather than possession.

Sat unreleased for two years. Also known as February.