In Crossbow the spoiler is right in front of you, there in the title. A crossbow is an anachronistic device and does not, at least in my mind, lend itself well to analogy or metaphor. In spite, or, more accurately, precisely because this ominous title hangs over the very start of viewing, the short film remarkably sustains a growing dread throughout its languid narration and slow-moving, though arresting visuals; maximizing its force not through the promise of surprise but through the inevitability of its conclusion.

The Young One
1960
6.9/10

The Trigger Effect
1996
5.9/10

1
2020
6.7/10

Amber Alert
2024
7.0/10

Come Sunday
2018
5.8/10

Sovereign
2025
6.6/10

Suburbia
1984
6.7/10

First Snow
2006
6.1/10

The Road Dance
2022
6.7/10

Home Run
2013
6.2/10

September
1987
6.2/10

Guilty by Suspicion
1991
6.5/10

Girl in the Bunker
2018
7.1/10

Hungry Hearts
2015
6.5/10

American Son
2019
6.1/10

Marked for Death
1990
6.1/10

Dear Zoe
2022
6.5/10

Jesse Stone: Thin Ice
2009
6.9/10

The Negotiator
1998
7.1/10

Adopt a Highway
2019
6.7/10
Summer of 84
2018
6.91/10