Horse Girl

Horse Girl

movie

R, 2020

WISE
60%

WISE Score

72

Avg. Tomatometer

Alison Brie plays an isolated craft-store clerk whose sleepwalking and alien-abduction dreams spiral into a real psychological breakdown.

IMDb6
RT Critics72%
MC61
Common Sense Media
Where to Watch
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Screenwise Verdict

Starts off looking like a lighthearted indie comedy about an awkward craft-store worker who loves horses and crime shows, then takes a sharp left turn into psychological horror. Alison Brie cowrote the script and gives a committed performance as a woman experiencing a full mental break, complete with missing time, sleepwalking, and delusions of alien abduction.

It is an empathetic film, but it is deeply disorienting by design. Because it refuses to give tidy answers about where reality ends and hallucination begins, it leaves viewers feeling as unmoored as its main character. It works as an unsettling psychological character study for mature viewers, but it is far too heavy and chaotic for family movie night.

Age Fit

Strictly for high schoolers (16+) and adults. The film opens like a quirky indie character study before shifting into an intense, disorienting exploration of psychosis that will be confusing and disturbing for younger viewers.

WISE Breakdown
Wholesome
38

Deals heavily with severe psychological decompensation, hereditary trauma, paranoia, and deep social isolation.

Imaginative
78

Blurs dream logic, alien abduction tropes, and time-loop paranoia into a surreal, unconventional narrative structure.

Safe
52

Features disorienting mental health crises, non-graphic nudity during sleepwalking, light profanity, and references to suicide.

Enriching
68

Offers an empathetic, if unsettling, look at how mental illness feels from the inside rather than viewing it from a distance.

Parent Info

Why It Might Be Great

  • Alison Brie's lead performance keeps a bizarre narrative grounded in genuine emotional pain.
  • Empathetic portrayal of mental illness that captures the terrifying internal experience of losing touch with reality.
  • Distinct surreal tone that blends quirky indie comedy tropes with unsettling psychological mystery.

What to Watch For

  • Unsettling mental health breakdown that becomes increasingly frantic, disorienting, and claustrophobic.
  • Depression and suicide themes, including background discussions about family history with severe mental health struggles.
  • Non-sexual partial nudity, where the protagonist wakes up un-clothed in public or outdoors due to severe sleepwalking episodes.

Conversation Starters

  • "How did the film make you feel the same confusion and paranoia that Sarah was experiencing?"
  • "What made Sarah feel so isolated, even when her roommate and coworkers tried to reach out?"
  • "Did you view the ending as a literal sci-fi event or a complete psychological detachment?"

Deep Dive

Quirky Character Study Meets Psychological Thriller

Horse Girl lures you in with familiar indie-movie comfort food: colorful crafts, socially awkward banter, and an overly quiet protagonist named Sarah who works at a fabric store. But co-writers Jeff Baena and Alison Brie use those gentle tropes as a Trojan horse. Within thirty minutes, the cozy exterior dissolves into an intense depiction of a mind unraveling.

What sets the film apart is its commitment to Sarah's subjective reality. Instead of standing outside her condition to analyze it, the camera stays glued to her perspective. When she hears scratching under the floorboards, experiences missing time, or dreams of being lifted into the air, the audience experiences those events with her. That artistic choice makes the story effective, but it also makes it genuinely claustrophobic to sit through.

Who It's Actually For

This is a solid recommendation for older teens interested in unconventional filmmaking or psychological dramas. It pairs surprisingly well with films like Black Swan or Donnie Darko in how it uses genre elements—time travel, aliens, sci-fi concepts—to map out deep psychological stress.

If you sit down with a high schooler to watch it, expect a conversation about hereditary mental illness, isolation, and how hard it can be to help someone who is losing their grip on reality.

What Parents Ask

Stills
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