What the hell did I just watch? The unpredictable White God goes from being one thing, then another, and then something completely, absurdly different, and I have no clue whether I loved it or hated it or something in between.

In fairness, I know I didn’t hate it. Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó’s ambitiously strange-but-not-really-strange drama/adventure/horror-or-revenge-sort-of (?) tale is largely entertaining to watch, unpredictable and visually beautiful. Mundruczó makes us care for the characters—human and canine alike—and tells an interweaving story that likes to shift directions just when you think you’ve finally figured out what you’re watching.

He sets the tone with an opening scene of a girl cycling down a deserted city street, hundreds of dogs seemingly in pursuit. Dream sequence? Maybe. Captivating? Certainly. And either way, it reminds you that you never know what is going to happen next.

The movie is like a gritty, subtitled and R-rated Homeward Bound-meets-Independence Day, though that’s not fair because there are no spaceships or aliens, only dogs. I saw one review that compared the movie to The Birds, but that’s not entirely accurate either because White God is not a horror movie.

At least I don’t think so.

It’s this weird, always-changing dynamic that is both the movie’s greatest strength and weakness. It’s unpredictability keeps you guessing, and when Mundruczó moves into the third act and the dog shit really hits the fan, I literally laughed out loud because there was no way in a million years I would have guessed what was going to be unleashed.

But would I recommend this movie? Who would I recommend it to? The dog Hagen is certainly the star of the show, but just when I considered recommending this to my dog-loving mother, the movie goes on a stint about dog torture—and eventually shows a bunch of dogs getting shot. And while scene by scene the movie isn’t all that weird—well, except for the holy-dog-shit climax—the final product certainly is.

White God isn’t a bad movie, and it may even be quite a good one, but unless you like strange R-rated movies starring dogs, it probably isn’t for you.

Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.