This is a movie that creates fear out of creepy moments and by playing on the natural desire of wanting to feel safe with family. There's no need for blood or excessive acts of violence when the scares are this unsettling.

Skiles's film doesn't care so much if you think you know how it ends, even if you're right. It's all about twisting the knife in the process of confirming those fears.

As good as Plummer and McDermott are here, [writer Christopher D. Ford] ultimately writes himself into a corner that requires actions in the final act that don't ring true.

“The Clovehitch Killer” is ostensibly focused on an investigation, but the subtext is how our American Christian culture pathologizes normal teen development, especially sexuality, while providing cover and bolstering the authority of predators.