Also Known As Pictures, Manis Film, Papagjika Salloway Productions,
Bella Thorne, Frank Grillo, Aaron Tveit, Kyra Sedgwick, François Arnaud
Hazel (Bella Thorne) is a young lady with very severe agoraphobia who hasn’t set foot outside her house in years, living with her mother (Kyra Sedgewick). Finally Hazel has agreed to go to a resort/treamtment center/sanitarium(?) way out in the middle of the desert. The driver is used to these kinds of patients, and has built a sort of cave in the back of the van where she can hide in darkness and hopefully silence in order to survive the journey. At the last minute, Mom decided to come along just in case of problems. Before they arrive at the destination though, some gunmen show up and stop the van out in the desert, and the only way to survive is if Hazel can escape and face her terror and hike out of the desert for help.
This is an unusual movie. This is basically a showpiece for Bella Thorne, and she has to carry the entire movie. It’s a very suspenseful story, though very simple and not overly complex. The condition that Hazel has to deal with is portrayed very expertly by Bella, and I felt she did an outstanding job. She carries the film on her own. Some of the characters are cartoonish, and rather shallow, but Bella is able to carry the weight of the script and character development problems and turn in an outstanding performance. The depiction of her crippling disability makes me finally feel what it must be like to be so terrified of being outside your safe place. The suspense is really edge of your seat stuff, and I really enjoyed this film. On the edge of horror, this is really a suspenseful drama and not quite a horror film, but still I was really frightened as I watched this film. I don’t stream a whole lot of films, but this was one of the ones I have seen lately that impressed me enough for a 4 star review.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
