Coming soon!
Cast:
William Ash as Zakes Abbot
Christine Bottomley as Beth
Andreas Wisniewski as The Tarman
Claire Keelan as Wendy
Stuart McQuarrie as Thorpe
Robbie Gee as Chimponda
Directed by Mark Tonderai
Review:
A young couple, Zakes and Beth, spend a rainy evening in a car, visiting truck stop bathrooms along the M1 to do a bit of guerilla marketing for a car company. On the trip the couple bickers about where their relationship is going and what the guy remembers or doesn’t remember. You know, the usual. For the most part the evening is going according to plan until they cut off a big semi that has to weave around them.
In the weaving, the accordion door on the back flies open for a split second and Zakes catches a glimpse of a woman, bound and gagged, in a cage in the back. The film kicks into high gear now. Zakes and Beth try to alert the police, but they are unable to read the license plate due to the mud crusting it. Feeling that there is nothing else he can do but let the police know, Zakes pulls off the road to continue his job and Beth reaches her breaking point. She is pissed at him because he can’t be man enough to save that girl and also because he’s not putting effort into their relationship.
They separate and Zakes returns to his car to cool off. As soon as he gets, in the semi pulls into the truck stop. He sees a tall, hooded man exit the truck and walk into the station. Zakes gets curious and decides to investigate it. The back of the truck has been locked, but the cab is open so he jumps in to look around for something (I couldn’t figure out what he could possibly want in there). Suddenly, the man returns and he barely escapes.
He runs back into the station to tell Beth about the semi, but he can’t find her. He finds his way outside then, after a misunderstanding in the ladies room, and spots Beth’s bracelet on the floor. He looks up and sees the semi pulling away. He connects the two and realizes that the hooded man took Beth. He steals a car and chases after them.
What follows is more Vacancy than Joy Ride, as Zakes goes through hell to find his girlfriend. Along the way, he’ll unearth a conspiracy that is never explained and a weird twist near the end that is also unexplained and makes no sense. He eventually tracks the hooded man down and the cat and mouse game comes to a crushing conclusion.
There is a great “nailed to floor” scene in this film that I, personally, have never seen done before and that will be the most memorable thing I take away from this picture. It’s not groundbreaking or genre-defining, but it’s fun, fast, and never boring. I think the movie ended way too quickly and it left a ton of unanswered questions, but other than that it was very suspenseful. Director Mark Tonderai does a good job with the pacing and William Ash as Zakes does a good job of keeping us caring.
It’s like a Hitchcock film if he were making movies nowadays. The end gets a bit muddled with some unexplained junk, but for the most part this is a robust thriller. Road thrillers may be a dime a dozen, but this film shows that in the right hands you can still squeeze some shocks from the tired formula. Don’t expect a masterpiece of tension, but don’t expect to be bored, either.
