Sometimes, the most important element of a tale is what the listener brings to it. The story of Suki and her alter ego: The Scribbler is one such tale. The experiences and lessons it reveals will resonate most strongly within a soul on the fringes of society–an outcast.

Daniel Schaffer’s noirish graphic novel–turned gritty action movie is chock full of women dealing with a wide variety of fashionable psychological disorders. A newcomer named Suki arrives at the troubled tenement in which the are housed, and quickly thereafter a spate of suspicious suicides begins. Could one of her less agreeable personalities be to blame?

The film grapples with the nature of normality, conformity and even identity while playing fast and loose with mental maladies — but far less than the prettier, but infinitely more vapid Sucker Punch. The Scribbler also benefits from a veritable who’s who of genre alums past and present: Arrow, Buffy, Doll House and The Sarah Connor Chronicles… and probably a few more. The result is a psychotic stew of exploitation films, a slapdash stab at modern psychotherapy and super anti-heroes.

Not everyone will understand this story, or want to understand it. Nevertheless, every spiritual awakening is ultimately one of personal loss, redemption … and learning to embrace your inner nature, no matter how dark or downright insane it may seem.