Mary, a young college girl driving home from a bar, intoxicated by drink, swerves to avoid something in the road, running up the verge and over some rough ground. Shaken but unhurt she drives the rest of the journey home, only to find a man impaled on her front bumper. Panicking when he makes a sudden grab for her, she beats him severely and, in a state of distress, decides to bury the body in nearby woods. Considering that getting the damaged car repaired might be the worst of her remaining problems, she soon sees a TV appeal for a missing teacher and a flyer mysteriously appears under the door. This is just the beginning of a web of terror and pain with no visible end in sight...

I was very pleasantly surprised by this film. It follows what is essentially a straightforward and seemingly on the surface mundane tale. However, it deftly avoids all the possible plot pitfalls and obvious clichés. Nearly every time a new plot point is introduced, it fails to take the expected hackneyed path of many a predecessor.

Above everything else, what really makes this film work remarkably well is Laura Breckenridge’s impressive portrayal of the protagonist Mary. She plays both an unwitting, or almost accidental perpetrator, and a victim. For the vast majority of the running time she is acting entirely alone, and the fact that her wide range of justifiable and believable reactions to events is so powerful is testament to her acting prowess. She’s certainly one to look out for in the future.

The only drawback here is that I would have expected a range of extras to accompany what is, after all, a relatively recent film. The fact that it is an entertaining viewing experience makes those wanted featurettes and commentaries conspicuous by their absence.

8

Ty Power