"Thoroughbred" A Teen Thriller that Leaves the Rest of the Pack in the Dust - A 1st Class Winning Pick!

The young adult movie, written & directed by the very talented 20 something (American born) Cory Finley.  Finley does an extraordinary job writing & directing an intense character study of 2 high school girls both kicked out of school on nefarious grounds.  The first shot is seemingly serene between (yet unbeknownst Amanda) and a horse inside a paddock.  The movie then shifts to Amanda (an amazing performance by British actress Olivia Cooke) being dropped off at a stately home.  She being dropped off at stately house where she's told to remain in the foyer while the help fetches Lily (an astonishing tour-de-force performance by Anya Taylor-Joy).  Amanda doesn't adhere to orders and she peruses the premises with an aura of ownership while the camera captures every prance from room to room.  A photo above the mantle of a young girl atop a horse arrests Amanda's attention.  When Lily finally finds her way down through the maze of this mansion the two sit down for Amanda's tutoring by Lily.  It's apparent Amanda isn't in need of mentoring and there's a palpable tension between the girls like 2 thoroughbreds chomping at the bit.  Amanda has perfected reading people's faces and at feigning tears.  Lily wants to know if Amanda has any feelings.  "I trick myself into believing I have other people's emotions and imitate them," Amanda cooly responds.  Amanda contends she has no feelings which isn't a bad thing but "{I} have to work harder at being good."  Finley is frighteningly fiendish in the style of Jordan Peele's brilliant thriller "Get Out." The suspense mounts within the affluent CT suburbs of wealthy, privileged white people.  Mark (Paul Sparks "House of Cards") is the wicked step-father whom Lily despises.  Amanda proffers a plan for murdering Mark without getting caught.  This haunting cat & mouse caper/chess game is non stop roller coaster ride.  Lily listens to Amanda as she maneuvers large outdoor chess pieces which are indistinguishable in color and her moves don't adhere to chess game rules.  The viewer can't help but get caught up in this sumptuous mysterious noir film that is (as Peele succeeded in doing) a unique genre blending suspense, sociopathic character studies and social parody.  The girls try to rope in Tim (Anton Yeltchin b Russia 1989-2016) an older loser whose already in trouble with the law.  (This was Yeltchin's last film role before he was accidentally asphyxiated.)  Even Tim realizes it's time to GET OUT from the plot hatched by the far more clever & sinister beauties.  "Throughbred" outshines the other contenders in the teen thriller genre with this first rate winning film that surpasses its marks trotting out every well paced split second.