Admittedly, we’ve never been real fans of David Fincher’s. This poster boy of dark psychological thrillers, notably the critically acclaimed Seven and Panic Room, has always given us overly-stylized and insubstantial films that were often more gimmicky than not. Seven, for one, was utterly predictable and hackneyed (never mind what the other critics say), while Panic Room was sooooo dark, we couldn’t even tell what was going on in the film (OK, so we’re stretching it a little here).

But in Zodiac, Fincher has finally found his forte—this ranks as one of the best and most memorable American thrillers since Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs in 1992. Based on the unsolved Zodiac killings that haunted the San Francisco Bay area in the ’70s through ’80s, the film is an understated and unflinching study of a cat-and-mouse game involving its three main protagonists—goofy cartoonist Robert Craysmith (Jack Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain), news reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr., Gothika) and inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo, Rumor Has It). Also present is a killer who calls himself the Zodiac, whose true identity was never discovered. The film examines the sociological and psychological impacts the cases have in their lives, as the three men ping-pong off one another, taking turns dropping and picking up the reins of the case as hard years wear on. All three suffered varying degrees of soul-destroying obsession—forever hooked on the buzz they got when those first Zodiac letters were first published in the papers.

Make no mistake—Zodiac is an intensely creepy film from start to finish, and not just a straightforward study of psychological breakdown and the search for an elusive phantom. Kudos to Fincher who never quite lets up the tension: From the uneasy opening shots right through the many Zodiac encounters and, finally, an eerie scene involving Craysmith and a would-be killer—we were at the edge of our seats. Sure, the film is a little long, but what makes the film so great is not just its riveting storyline, but Fincher’s beautiful recreation of the era—the director opts for a flattened-out everyday look, relying on meticulous camera placement and propulsive editing to propel the story along. Unlike most period pictures that over-recreate their settings, Zodiac just seems to have been born in its grimy early ’70s milieu, with a memorable and classic soundtrack to boot.

The film will hook you from start to finish and is easily one of the year’s best films.