The buzz that travels from the Sundance Film Festival bubble to the real world every January typically revolves around a small crop of Oscar hopefuls. But for every Boyhood, theres an Obvious Child a discovery with passionate fans who want to shout its name from the cinematic rooftops. For me, this years was Thoroughbred.

Sleek and delicious, Thoroughbred is a 90-minute romp through the spoils of suburbia, where decadent facades conceal murderous impulses. It blends the popular-girl pastiche of Heathers with the sensual psychodrama of Ingmar Bergmans Persona.

Writer and director Cory Finley cast two self-proclaimed Sundance kids in his debut feature. Olivia Cooke, the dying girl in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, plays Amanda, a sociopathic Connecticut teenager whos become a social leper after slaying her familys horse. Sharp and resourceful, Amanda rehearses emotions but feels nothing. Anya Taylor-Joy, the witch in The Witch, plays Lily, an estranged junior-high friend who reconnects with Amanda for study sessions. In truth, Amandas mother has paid Lily to spend time with her daughter as a sort of arranged playdate. Lily is the picture-perfect classmate, preppy and beautiful and poised or so it seems. One problem: Its driving Lily mad to live with her vicious stepfather (Paul Sparks), who wants to ship her off to a boarding school for troublemakers.