I Am The Trailer For I AM THE PRETTY THING THAT LIVES IN THE HOUSE

Writer/director Oz Perkins in certainly on his own journey. The son of late horror icon Anthony Perkins, he's seemingly embraced horror as a career, and hasn’t been shy about citing his dad’s legacy in interviews. He's acknowledged the connection so openly that one might unimaginatively expect the son of Norman Bates to be delving into repressed male sexuality and slasher territory.

But so far, the director’s work seems to have more in common with earlyRoman Polanski than with his pop. Perkins has so far tackled Satanism, paranoia, madness and murder from a distinctly female point of view, with two features made in a relatively short span of time. So short, in fact, that his second feature, I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House, is actually beating its predecessor to release, hitting Netflix this Friday.

Perkins’ first feature film, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, played the festival circuit last year (under the title February). Most of Birth.Movies.Death., this writer included, did not love that film. But I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House looks like a measured, creepy leap forward. The cast - Ruth Wilson (Luther), Paula Prentiss (The Stepford Wives), Lucy Boynton (Sing Street), and Bob Balaban (everything) - is pretty top-notch, and the above trailer delivers the kind of slow-burn dread (while divulging precious little plot) that makes for perfect Halloween weekend viewing. I'm pulling for this one.