The hunting trip is Marcus's idea, a way to celebrate Vaughn's 'last few days of freedom,' but it's clearly less important to him than spending a night out drinking and flirting with two women who stop by the bar. Vacations rarely go smoothly in movies - or villages - like this.

We learn there's a raucous festival approaching, signaling that a communal Wicker Man-like scenario might be in the offering, and it's clear that word travels fast in the muddy, gray town. The locals, sporting thick beards, thick accents, and even thicker sweaters, welcome the two buddies to their sleepy community with a combination of rugged hospitality and hardly concealed spite. After some awkward banter between the two guys as they set off on their journey, the men arrive at exactly the type of cozy, remote hamlet where you know bad shit is about to go down. The opening stretch, which finds tension in moments of unease and mistrust, might be the most effective part of the film. It attacks your nerves with studied precision. In its best moments, Calibre plays like a Highlands-set episode of Breaking Bad mixed with an Edgar Allen Poe story. The Scottish production from debut filmmaker Matt Palmer has a fairly stock premise - father-to-be Vaughn (Jack Lowden) joins his rough-around-the-edges buddy Marcus (Martin McCann) for one last hunting weekend full of revelry and, of course, bloodshed - but it balances the familiar set-up with subtle performances, a restrained visual approach, and a striking sense of place. It's also a bright spot in Netflix's recent batch of underwhelming thriller offerings. Did he lead us astray here? Well, we watched Calibre and can confirm: This is a work of stomach-churning suspense worthy of King's praise. Still, as any reader of his old Entertainment Weekly columns can attest, King has deeply eclectic (and sometimes slightly goofy) taste when it comes to films. He's got some authority in the nail-biting space.

When the mind behind novels like Carrie and The Stand (not to mention recent Netflix stand-outs like Gerald's Game and 1922) calls a movie a 'genuine nail-biter' and claims it has a 'Hitchcock vibe,' it's worth paying attention to it. In between book picks, dog photos, and impeachment requests, the wildly prolific horror author uses his chatty, frequently updated Twitter account to make the occasional TV and movie endorsement, often focussing on the spooky genre that he made his name in. Earlier this month, Stephen King recommended Netflix's woodsy new thriller Calibre.

Calibre 2018 movie review