Estranged childhood friends Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Amanda (Olivia Cooke) reunite in suburban Connecticut when Amanda's mum hires Lily to tutor her troubled daughter.
Emotionally-stunted Amanda is awaiting trial for animal cruelty, but Lily has her own secrets.
The two girls bond over Lily's contempt for her brusque stepfather, Mark (Paul Sparks), and they come up with a scheme to kill him.
The young women approach local hustler Tim (Star Trek's Anton Yelchin) to do the deed while both girls are away (Lily on a spa weekend with her mother, Amanda in therapy).
Of course, things don't go according to plan, and eventually Lily and Amanda have to take matters into their own hands.
Written and directed by Cory Finley, Thoroughbreds is an amazing piece of cinema. For a work heavy with gorgeously-mannered dialogue it whips along faster than a speeding bullet, belying its mere 88-minute duration to feel almost like a short.
Of course, much credit must go to its two flawless, charismatic leads - Split's Anya Taylor-Joy and Bates Motel's Olivia Cooke - who make this theatrically intimate, deliciously dark, character study look effortless.
Kudos also to the late, lamented, Anton Yelchin in his final film before his tragic death at way too early an age.
This trio of young talent would make the film worth the price of admission alone, but Finley's script is also tight and layered, without a wasted word or gesture.
It's an examination of friendship and sacrifice seen through a dark mirror, a twisted tale about guarded, emotionally-distant young women finding purpose in life.
One slight word of warning (the sort of thing that in a sane world wouldn't be necessary) is that in some places Thoroughbreds has been marketed as a comedy - it's not. Some of the banter between the leads is naturally witty, but overall I wouldn't even call this a dark comedy.
It's an indie drama centring on pitch-perfect performances from incredible actors.
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