Currently available on DVD: "Dogtooth"

Dogtooth, featuring one of the most dysfunctional families in recent cinematic memory, doesn't rank as a great film, but it's difficult to take your eyes off it, as you wonder what impossibly bizarre thing might happen next. It's like watching a collection of Leave It to Beaver episodes co-directed by Lars von Trier and David Lynch.

The grim, somehow comic proceedings begin as we meet three walled-in college-age kids who have been sheltered (to the nth degree) by their misguided - and cruel - parents. The three children, in their 20s, are never allowed to venture beyond their yard, because the big, bad world out there is way too dangerous.

But whatever's happening outside couldn't possibly be as spooky as what's happening inside.

The family speaks in an alternative language (which provides some darkly funny moments), and sexual activity around the household is odd, to say the least.

What prevents this highly original work from being a masterpiece is its lack of narrative drive and character development. After the first 30 minutes, the set pieces become repetitious, even if they get increasingly shocking. The skilled director, Yorgos Lanthimos, gets the aesthetics perfectly right, but the script leaves the brave cast with almost nowhere to go.

Nevertheless, this Greek film has something to say about sheltered family life, and it ain't pretty.