The Return (2006)

Describing his first American feature, Asif Kapadia is infuriatingly vague. ''It's the story of a girl who is haunted by visions,'' says the British director. ''And these affect her life and drive her to a place.'' His reticence is understandable, as The Return, which stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as a Midwestern woman with an eerie connection to a past murder, is one of those creepy contemporary thrillers that hinges on a murky tone, a ''twisty-turny'' plot, and a revelatory and, one hopes, mind-blowing climax. Similar to recent milder spookfests like The Others, Dark Water, and Gellar's 2004 hit The Grudge, Kapadia says The Return stays well on the subtle, non-CG side of spooky. ''I'm a fan of Polanski and directors like that. When they do scary films, there's tension in the air, but you're not sure why.''