User Reviews

A lonely young woman named Beth (Aussie actress Rahda Mitchell from LOVE & OTHER CATASTROPHES, HIGH ART, and PITCH BLACK) lives in a small town in California with (literally) only five to six residents. She works days at a roadside diner and nights at a motel, both of which were left to her by her late father. A young drifter named Jack Barrett (Barry Watson of TV's 7TH HEAVEN) appears at the diner one day, a knife wound to the abdomen. He tells her that he is being chased, and, soon enough, three men (Josh Lucas, Jonathan Blick, Eryn Wilson), claiming to be surfers, show up (in a Volvo, of all cars). Jack, hiding in the kitchen, tells Beth that these are the men who are chasing him. Jack later collapses in the parking lot, and Beth decides to help him. She gives him a room at the motel, and later also gives the three surfers a room, two doors down. She soon befriends the main surfer, Peter (Lucas). Later that night, Beth takes Jack to a doctor friend of hers, Eric (Steven Ray), who can sew up Jack's wound. Meanwhile, outside, the three surfers wait outside the house in their car, silent. The next day, Eric won't answer his phone. What has happened to him? Beth finds medication in Jack's car. Who can Beth trust? The drifter Jack? The surfers? How about the local (and lone) cop Bryce (Kevin Anderson), whom Beth claims once raped her?

As far as low-budget films go, this one, written and directed by Scott Reynolds, is right on the money in most respects. There are several suspenseful scenes, from Jack hiding in the kitchen while the three surfers make small talk with Beth to Beth hiding in a gas station bathroom stall while the person who is hunting her stands outside the door, switchblade in hand. SPOILER: the best scene involves Jack and Beth hiding in the bathroom while the three surfers try to coax the two out, during which Deep Purple's "Hush" blares loudly on the jukebox.

The use of flashbacks is nice and adds suspense and, in a scene between Beth and Bryce, adds insight into the characters and their motivations. Every actor does their job with conviction, especially Mitchell, whose American accent is so dead-on I would've thought she was American if I hadn't already seen her in earlier films; Watson, who is slowly growing out of his 7TH HEAVEN persona; Anderson, as good here as he was in MILES FROM HOME; and Lucas, who keeps you guessing as to his identity until it is finally revealed. And, you wouldn't really know it unless you're familiar with the territory, but the entire film was filmed in Foxton, New Zealand! I'm from California, and I must say that the beautiful grasslands and coastline of Foxton subbed wonderfully for California, even up to the driftwood.

SPOILER: the ending at the gas station is photographed and shot beautifully with enough suspense to keep you guessing until the very end, but I could've done without the add-on after the credits. 8/10

***SPOILERS*** It's when drifter Jack Barrett, Barry Watson, showed up at Beth's , Radha Mitchell, out of the way off the beaten track, or main highway, diner that things started getting real interesting as well as deadly. Acting as if he has something to hide, in what turned out to be a mysterious CD, Jack kept looking outside expecting someone to show up looking for him. That didn't take long when this trio of surfers Peter Steven & Roger, Josh Lucas Jon Blick & Eryn Wilson, drove up an hour later.

Terrified and fearing for his life Jack, hiding behind the counter, begged Beth not to reveal him to the three strangers, which what seemed at the time to be against her worst suspicions about him, which she didn't. As things soon turned out the three surfer boys were anything but the happy go lucky lads, looking for the perfect wave, that they seemed to be. Whatever they did and whatever they had against Jack was left up to the viewers and Beth's imagination. But it was enough for them to murder anyone who stood in the way between them and Jack and the CD he had on him that they were so desperately after.

What at first seemed to be the films most weakest point in the end turned out to be its strongest: The mysterious CD that Jack had on him that he guarded with his very life. We never get to know what exactly is on the CD but that's the very reason were so interested in it. Beth for her part slowly starts to believe in what Jack was telling her about the three strangers in that he was suffering from an almost fatal stab wound that they supposedly inflicted on him. Beth is also pestered and threatened by local cop Bryce, Kevin Anderson, whom she accused of raping her and who's wife Lynda, Dra Mckay, who accuses her of having and affair with him. This makes for an interesting side-story in the movie but doesn't add anything to the terror and suspense in it.

***SPOILERS*** It takes a while for Beth to finally be convinced in what Jack was telling her about the three strangers and that's only after Dr. Eric Leonard, Steven Ray, who was treating Jack's knife wound ended up being murdered by them. The three killers lead by the smooth talking and friendly Peter then came out into the open and showed exactly what they were all about with Beth, in Jack accidentally electrocuting himself, on her own in single handedly taking them on! That's until the unexpected hero in the movie gas station attendant Bernie, Michael Lowe, almost by accident showed up on the scene!

Nerve wrecking and tense filled climax with the heroic gas station attendant Bernie, who was savagely worked over by the three thugs, coming to Beth's rescue only to end up losing his life by doing it. It was Bernie's brave action that gave Beth the precious time to set into motion the events that finally lead to the movie's flaming and explosive climatic scene. It was then that Peter & Co. got everything that was coming to them! Everything except the mysterious CD that they were after, and murdered so many people for, all throughout the film!

9 Stars out of 10.

This film was exceptionally well done, tight storyline, good pacing and action, and very good performances by the entire cast.

The only reason I did not give it 10 was because they fail to tell the viewer what IS on that computer disc. Of course, if this is based on a true story (I don't know if it is or not), then I guess the girl telling the story would not know the answer to that.

The story begins with Beth, a very nice looking young woman (Radha Mitchell) walking down a dusty road to her job at the small, out of the way diner she runs.

She's hoping for a lift, but instead gets a dusting from a car that passes her by. The driver, a young man, turns up shortly afterward at the diner.

He is behaving somewhat mysteriously and looks to be a drifter or perhaps someone wanted by the police.

Beth, nonetheless, gets to conversing with him - perhaps because she's lonesome or bored or just curious.

No one else is in the diner, and then three young men show up together in a car. The first young man hides behind the counter in the diner and indicates to Beth that these three men are after him. He tells a story that he accidentally cut them off on the road and that they caught up with him, forced him off the road, beat him, and stabbed him.

Beth doesn't call the police. She doesn't like cops, especially the local one, Bryce (Kevin Anderson) - for a very good reason - as we discover.

As the story progresses, we don't know who is telling the truth and who is lying.

Is Peter (Josh Lucas)(one of the three men who arrived together), helping Beth out because he is smitten with her, or is it something more.

Is Jack (the young man who was stabbed)(Barry Watson), a schizophrenic in the grip of an delusional episode? Or are Peter and his three associates the true villains? What is the connection between these four men? And who can Beth turn to as the net around her tightens?

I saw this on the Lifetime channel, but it is definitely way above the usual. This kept me on the edge of my seat, and kept me guessing throughout.

A lot of the discussion seems to be about the last two minutes of this film, which seems unfair, but actually makes sense because the ending, for me, is the main beauty of the film. I have seen many films spoiled by a silly ending, but this is not one of them. The ending is perfect. This film is fast-paced, with constant turns and surprises, a real, classic thriller basically - and throughout the film there are long scenes where almost nothing happens, just suspense building up, and then it explodes in panic and headlong flight. You never really understand what it is all about, and that, for me, sends the film right up there with "The Birds" and other thriller classics. You don't always have to have things explained to you, sometimes there is a strange beauty in the things that you don't understand. So watch this film is you want to see something a little different, guaranteed no boring exposition and long-winded explanations. This film is an attempt to make a thriller that doesn't have to prove itself, that doesn't need an excuse to exist, that simply just works on the basis of atmosphere and mood. This has to be one of the best thrillers I have seen for a long, long time.

I have seen this movie at the 2001 Montreal Fantasia film festival. Minor spoilers.

Just one word: Wow. A young woman runs a diner by a now deserted highway. A penniless young man walks and she offers him a free meal... Then the famous strangers appear... This movie has more plot turns than a carnival ride. I lost count of how many times my suspicions jumped from one character to another. Great scriptwriting. The movie could be considered slow by some standards but the interest is well maintained all through the duration. It somehow reminded me of Blood Simple from the Cohen brothers. Great acting. The ending is vaguely reminiscent of the first John Woo US productions, a little bit over the top. Stay for the duration of the credits for a nice tongue-in-cheek surprise.