I went into this not expecting too much. It's a stock independent horror film with a rudimentary plot and stars the chick from the Mercury commercials. This isn’t fodder for the Oscars broadcast. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the film. Yes, it is a very basic horror film, but taking it on its own merits, it’s as well done as it could be.

The plot is about as simple as it gets, a couple Seth (Paulo Costanzo) and Polly (Jill Wagner) are out in the Styx when they are carjacked by the criminal Dennis (Shea Whigham) and his drug-addled girlfriend Lacey (Rachel Kerbs). The four stop off at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. At the gas station a strange parasitic creature traps them inside the establishment. They then must combine their wits to overcome the creature. Again, this isn’t Shakespeare. The script by Kai Berry, Ian Shorr and Toby Watkins is very tight and clean. Where most horror scripts concern themselves setting up scares and eviscerations, this script has some good plotting and reasonably solid dialog. Don’t get me wrong, you won’t walk away from this film quoting the lines, but with the exception of one element, you probably won’t be rolling your eyes.

I love smaller independent films like this one because it forces the filmmakers to be inventive with the limited resources they have on hand. In the case of this film, director Toby Watkins only shows very little of his monster and instead focuses his story on the trapped characters. He avoids the typical Pick-Off Movie routine where someone breaks away from the group and is slowly hunted down. Smartly, Watkins keeps the action stationary and explores the space he’s given with the gas station. The film is slimmed down and doesn’t have many special effects. With the exception on one shot of someone being torn in half, the violent monster’s rampages are rather tame. There’s lots of blood and there’s the illusion of gore, but the actual display of horrific scenes are as limited as they can be. This isn’t to say there aren’t horrible things that happen during the story – this is a horror film after all and there are things to make you squeamish. The grizzly stuff is handled with some restraint, which makes this film somewhat of an exception.

The cast all does quite well. It can be a hard thing for an actor to suffer through a low budget horror flick – heck, it can be hard to get through a big-budget one. Generally, these are discount rate productions with cheap scripts, directors who are either unproven or on the decline and the whole affair is pieced together to make a quick buck. Given the better than average plotting and some good character development, the cast actually has some room to grow in the production. In a strange turn, Jill Wagner is the defacto star of the film. This is strange because she’s a familiar face for being the spokesperson for Mercury. This is like the Verizon guy landing a lead role. It is rare for an identifiable commercial actor to transfer to screen roles, but from what I’ve seen here, it is very possible you’ll see more of the Mercury Chick on screen. Wagner’s turn here is quite good. She is a likable and sympathetic lead. This kind of role is a stepping stone for most actors and that is certainly the cast with Wagner. Like the script, she was a pleasant surprise. Opposite Wagner, Whigham also gives a good performance. Dennis is a conflicted criminal and his character arc is rather illogical when pressed. Whigham does a good job of muscling through some awkward bumps in the script and provides a strong leading man performance.

Overall, if you’re looking for a good, no-frills horror movie, this is a very good pick. It isn’t challenging but it’s not insulting either. The film will not win any awards, but it is far better than a lot of the garbage out there. The whole production gives the feeling of a crew of people playing a little below their ranks. They’ve taken something that should be a dismal embarrassment and have churned out a smartly played small flick that easily does its job.



Something I noticed about the script, that I wanted to quickly discuss for anyone who is interested in how these things break down, is how the hero character is handled in this film. Before you go further, please note that there are spoilers ahead.

The couple, Polly and Seth, are kidnapped by the couple Dennis and Lacey. Lacey is bumped off right away, leaving a trio behind. Given that Dennis is the kidnapper, it is standard practice to have him act as the villain for the remainder of the film with the monster outside in the role as secondary antagonist (the heavy). Something happens in this film which is a little odd. Seth is a non-entity. He’s established as a half-man geek who holds no discernable masculine skills. He can’t even change a tire. Polly is set into the masculine role, she fixes the flat tire, she stands up to the kidnapper, she is stronger against the monster. Since Seth is a weakling, there is a heroic void. The writers fail to bring Polly completely into the heroic role because one of the aspects of the hero in a story is that they change – they have an arc. Polly doesn’t change. She’s a strong woman at the opening, she’s the same at the end. Seth has the most potential for change and does change near the end, but not in a dramatic way. It falls to Dennis to retain both the villain and the heroic roles. Dennis, a brutish criminal, would normally be shown as a survivor and shown to discard the others to save himself, which in turn would spell his doom. In this story, he instead admits his crimes and he is given a sympathetic goal of trying to repay his debt for his wrongs. This is done to make his appear more heroic than he really is. When this is done he is compensating for Seth’s lack of heroic stature. He takes on the heroic actions in the final act as a proxy for Seth. Seth remains the hero of the story, but only structurally. This is a pretty rare thing to see actually work in a script (another example of this happening is in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.) Normally, when this kind of archetype swapping goes on it spells disaster. I don’t have much of a point here, just spouting off some geek story structure stuff.


Related Reviews:
Indie horror movies
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
The Signal (2007)


Other Critic's Reviews:
SouthCon
Film Critics United

Labels: film, horror, Jill Wagner, movie review