Despite some occasional wooden acting performances by supporting role actors, this directorial debut from Highland Park-based Philip S. Plowden is strong mostly thanks to a stunning performance by actress Celeste Cooper as Mel. Cooper plays a black woman endurance athlete who is forced to fight and eventually kill for survival when her long distance trail run takes a deadly twist following an encounter with two hapless ex convicts in a convoluted plot involving a county lines drug deal gone wrong.
Perhaps the most interesting plot device are the flashbacks to a young girl training on the track and being pushed to her limits by an ex marine coach who's ashes are eventually scattered in the present time woods mirroring the same scattering of the drug dealers' cocaine that ultimately takes the story to a darker place.
This movie is not horror, thriller nor comedy but fuses elements of all these genres to produce a compelling and intelligent script which is as credible as it is incredible. Expect great things to come from Cooper and Plowden hopefully in future collaborations. A jarring underlying dramatic score keeps the tension building as various scenarios are played out in downstate Carbondale woodland locations including the Shawnee National Forest providing a sufficiently eerie backdrop to a farcical ending.
Perhaps the most interesting plot device are the flashbacks to a young girl training on the track and being pushed to her limits by an ex marine coach who's ashes are eventually scattered in the present time woods mirroring the same scattering of the drug dealers' cocaine that ultimately takes the story to a darker place.
This movie is not horror, thriller nor comedy but fuses elements of all these genres to produce a compelling and intelligent script which is as credible as it is incredible. Expect great things to come from Cooper and Plowden hopefully in future collaborations. A jarring underlying dramatic score keeps the tension building as various scenarios are played out in downstate Carbondale woodland locations including the Shawnee National Forest providing a sufficiently eerie backdrop to a farcical ending.