There's a lot to like about Starfish, but the choppy editing, the overly arthouse way it presents some of the themes, and underdeveloped aspects of the story in favor of the aural experience is ostracizing.

If White's wild formal experimentation and narrative cul-de-sacs result in a strange identity crisis for the film - a sense that he wasn't entirely sure which movie he wanted to make - Gardner's stellar work unifies it.

Not all of those pieces fit together. But they combine into something strikingly original.

Starfish offers a new look at how humans deal with grief while also making its own mark within the horror genre.