Never After Dark, a Japanese horror movie from American filmmaker Dave Boyle, brings a refreshing take on the traditional ghost story.

Winner of the SXSW Midnighter Audience Award, the Japanese-language film stars Moeka Hoshi (Shogun) as Airi, a traveling medium who guides spirits to their final destination. Her next job takes her to an isolated country house, where she encounters a ghost that inhabits both the spirit world and the world of the living.

The socially awkward Airi can also travel between both spaces, using a mirror and personal belongings as a portal—but only during the daytime. Nighttime is off-limits. Airi has help on the other side, but this new type of ghost tests both her skills and her will.

Writer and director Dave Boyle avoids typical ghost-story tropes and jump scares. Rather than haunting the residents, the ghost repeatedly performs an action that Airi must investigate to uncover what is happening.

The explanation for how the ghost inhabits two worlds is a bit confusing, although perhaps some of the meaning is lost in translation through the English subtitles.

The result is more gruesome than scary, while the atmosphere gives off The Shining vibes with its remote setting and the wide-open spaces of the large home. Add to that a soundtrack eerily reminiscent of Jerry Goldsmith’s “Hyper Sleep” track from Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), and the film creates an unsettling mood without relying on conventional scares.

The film also stars Kento Kaku (House Of Ninjas), Kurumi Inagaki (House of Ninjas), Mutsuo Yoshioka (Chime), Bokuzo Masana (Tokyo Vice), and Tae Kimura (All Around Us).

Never After Dark delivers a refreshing twist on the traditional ghost story, trading predictable jump scares for an eerie atmosphere, gruesome surprises and an unconventional supernatural mystery.

Never After Dark is now playing in movie theaters.