Open The Book Of Birdie with an exclusive clip from this dark feminist fantasy 

These are both the best and the worst of times for independent film. Yes, it’s easier to make a film than ever before, but it’s also harder to get it seen. Even here at The A.V. Club, as much as we’d like to, we simply don’t have time to review them all. That’s why we’d like to draw your attention to The Book Of Birdie, which came out earlier this week on VOD. Described as a “dark feminist fantasy,” this delicately creepy film marks the directorial debut of Wonder Woman and Pacific Rim Uprising storyboard artist Elizabeth E. Schuch, who worked with an all-female cast and majority female crew.

Starring Ilirida Memedovski as the title character, the film follows a strange girl who’s sent to live at a convent by her grandmother, in hopes of turning her into a proper young woman. But this treatment turns out to be counterproductive: At the convent, Birdie starts experiencing hallucinations and becomes obsessed with blood—as in the exclusive clip above, where she anoints herself in front of the mirror like one of the exquisitely suffering saints of Catholic art. Maybe summer camp would have been a better option?

The Book Of Birdie is out on VOD now.