Like The Night of the Hunter or Sharp Objects , this film uses the rural landscape as a character. The heat, the flies, the dead crops—they all symbolize a family that stopped growing long ago.

So, The answer is devastatingly simple. He saw nothing supernatural. He saw his own reflection in the eyes of his terrified children, and he chose to build a religion of lies rather than face the monster he was.

If you have the stomach for its darkness, you will find one of the most profound American horror films of the decade. Just do not expect to shake it off easily. Some images—and some truths—stay with you long after the credits roll, buried deep in the soil of your memory, waiting to be seen.

The film is loosely structured into three chapters, plus a prologue and an epilogue, centered on the adult Graham children returning to their dilapidated family farm. The farm sits on land rumored to be sacred to the indigenous Lenape people—a "cursed" plot where a patriarch once buried his daughter alive to save her from a plague. This folklore sets the stage for a story about intergenerational rot.

If you haven’t seen it, be warned: But even with them, this is a film whose power lies in its bleak, unforgettable atmosphere.