Mitzi Peirone’s 2018 first feature “Braid” was a series of kinky dress-up games posing as a thriller, one that valued style over substance to such a point that there was almost nothing solid for a viewer to hang onto. Her sophomore effort, “ Saint Clare ,” takes a step in the right direction, with Guinevere Turner onboard as co-writer in adapting Don Roff’s 2021 novel “Clare at Sixteen.” That injects a greater degree of narrative spine to this vehicle for Bella Thorne as a young woman in a small town uniquely equipped to deal with a plague of possibly lethal disappearances — she is a sort of serial killer herself, albeit one who only preys upon predators.

The book (which commenced an ongoing series) has been described as a “delightfully dark teen horror comedy” reminiscent of “Heather

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