Hen

In the barren steppe of South Africa, a man makes a gruesome discovery: several corpses strewn around a tied-up chest, with a distraught boy inside. He takes the boy home to his wife, and the two take him in. But what takes root in their isolated home is anything but a happy family life. Nico Scheepers needs few words to create maximum atmosphere in Hen. The smoldering sense of doom feeds on cruelly beautiful black-and-white shots, blood-curdling sound design, and three outstanding performances. A feature debut equal parts shocking and haunting—and enough to spoil even the most die-hard meat eater’s appetite for chicken. (Matthias Eckkrammer)