It’s been a rough night for Sam (Sawyer Spielberg) and Riley (Malin Barr), a young couple taking a road trip through a stretch of backwoods roads. First, they’re kicked off a campsite; then, their car breaks down. Looking for help, they ring the doorbell of an isolated house owned by Karen (Barbara Kingsley), a peculiar older woman who lives with her even stranger son, Gunni. As Sam and Riley wait for someone to arrive to fix their ride, Karen offers to make them something to eat. That’s when their host starts revealing a bit about herself, which is also when Sam and Riley’s night shifts from annoying to something much, much worse.

It’s a familiar horror film setup: a desperate situation leads folks to enter the wrong house in the wrong part of the woods. But none of those films are quite like Honeydew, an unhinged discovery from rookie filmmaker Devereux Millburn. With its quirky sound design, playful visual language, and blend of twisted violence and macabre humor, Honeydew steadily distorts genre conventions while introducing an unforgettable new geriatric horror villain.—Matt Barone

Devereux Milburn