. . . this would be one cut by an amateur not realizing the stone's true potential. It's hardly polished at all; and is mounted in a setting wrought from an old tin cup. Between poor writing, dropped plot-lines (the sunglasses), 2-dimensional "cardboard cut-out" support characters and unnecessary sub-plots (the nerd and his faulty fuel gauge) . . . critics will find ample fodder to shoot this production down. But I rated it a 5 because it dared to tackle the uber mega taboo topic of the toxic femme. In a post-feministic culture where men are pigs and women are the saintly victims with excuses, this is a topic that needs more brave production crews tackling it. It is an "accepted factoid" that only 1/3 of convicted child sex offenders are female. But this doesn't consider aspects of the young male ego that would refuse to see such an assault by a woman as "abuse" to be reported . . . but rather as a boasting point of the boy's precocious sexual prowess (as the lead character notes, or as seen in the mostly forgotten Letourneau case where to this day the then-12-yr-old boy refuses to see himself as a victim). Only a fraction of actual assaults against boys by women go reported, and only a fraction of these go on to prosecution. And even then it takes considerable grooming and coaching to have a boy present himself in court as "the victim".The main theme of this movie is the kidnapping and alleged sexual assault of a boy by a "troubled" woman. Both of the lead roles are performed skillfully enough to carry the story. The sub- story of the antagonist's being the result of her own toxic mother "spewing her venom" all over the home so the father quietly leaves, is adequately integrated. But the part about the "educational abuse" of boys by feministic teachers (while a prevalent social problem) is dropped on us with all the tact of a turd in the punch bowl. As in "Whoa! Where did that come from??". These are all issues that while very prevalent in our society, are taboo to discuss -- let alone make a movie about. But they are issues we need to stop sweeping under the rug. This movie has value. But it is a value that has been squandered on poor writing/production. Here's hoping more effective productions bringing light to these themes are in the wings.
8 Reviews
Fails on all levels
CabbageCustard17 November 2023
Whatever it is you like in a movie - suspense, family drama, a gripping story, true-life drama, a plausible story or , let's be honest, a little bit of eroticism, this movie is just not going to provide it In fact, this movie fails so badly it is quite laughable. I think the producers think they are doing that, but they're not.
A story idea that has definite possibilities is ruined by a ridiculous script, clunky and unrealistic dialogue and, most of all, a complete lack of acting ability by any single member of the cast. Essentially, this movie is just a series of increasingly unlikely, poorly staged and simply ridiculous set pieces portraying the life of young Zac Butterfield during his abduction, the half-hearted efforts of the authorities as they seek to find him, and the travailles of his parents as they deal with the reality of their missing son.
I guess this movie isn't all bad. I guess it is family friendly in that there is very little flesh shown and barely any swearing. Trouble is, not many members of your family are going to be able to sit through it. I guess the best thing you can say about it is it doesn't last too long.
A story idea that has definite possibilities is ruined by a ridiculous script, clunky and unrealistic dialogue and, most of all, a complete lack of acting ability by any single member of the cast. Essentially, this movie is just a series of increasingly unlikely, poorly staged and simply ridiculous set pieces portraying the life of young Zac Butterfield during his abduction, the half-hearted efforts of the authorities as they seek to find him, and the travailles of his parents as they deal with the reality of their missing son.
I guess this movie isn't all bad. I guess it is family friendly in that there is very little flesh shown and barely any swearing. Trouble is, not many members of your family are going to be able to sit through it. I guess the best thing you can say about it is it doesn't last too long.
A long awaited... disappointment
wmadavis16 November 2014
I waited a long time for this to become available on DVD. It's an interesting idea for a movie and the trailer made it look like it could be a credible film, but it is close to bottom-of-the-barrel film making. Barely a notch above homemade YouTube video productions. For such a prurient plot line there is nothing in this movie that would make a nun blush. The most memorable sex scene involves them jumping on the bed as the camera moves away and points to the floor as the couple's articles of clothing are thrown there into a pile while music from Swan Lake is played. Swan Lake! It was like a parody of a bad lovemaking scene! The boy is appealing enough in the lead but every other performance in the movie seems amateurish. The young woman is nowhere near credible as a skilled and dangerous war veteran. And it ends abruptly with several captions to explain what happened after, which were both inane and unsatisfying. Somebody had an provocative idea for a movie, but no ability to deliver one.
I will never get that time back
JustinJKanter1 June 2011
I have never felt so compelled to tell people to stay away from a film, a filmmaker and actors more than this film, this filmmaker and these actors. (so much so that I actually signed up for an IMDb account!)
Not only are they wasting any audience's time. But you can feel the absolute waste of time they all must have experienced. After all, I only lost about an hour and a half of my time. A loss I deeply regret, but I can only imagine that the writers, producers, director and actors have lost much more time and have done irreparable damage to their reputations. The only good thing I can say is that actor playing Agent Quincannon reminds me of 70's porn actor Scott Noll, unfortunately he seems to come from the same deer in the headlights school of acting porn actors do.
The sad thing is that the set up, the idea behind the film is not half bad. It's a little like Hard Candy meets L.I.E. (which this "screenwriter/producer" also created. He seems to be plagiarizing himself and doing some self-therapy all at once.)
The execution however is so laughably amateurish that at every aspect from beginning to end you are slack-jawed at how anyone involved in the production didn't just walk away. That the actors had to deliver such leaden lines is one thing, but if you are gonna have such a terrible script then at least the producers should have insisted in casting better actors. Or perhaps this was a case of producers scraping the bottom of the barrel as no self-respecting actor would ever take on a role if they actually bothered to read the script.
Did I watch the entire thing? Yes,I unfortunately did. Did I feel my time was wasted, no doubt. So why didn't I walk away? Because I expected at least something to happen to elevate it to camp status. That moment unfortunately never came, which leads me to believe everyone involved actually thought they were making something good.
Not only are they wasting any audience's time. But you can feel the absolute waste of time they all must have experienced. After all, I only lost about an hour and a half of my time. A loss I deeply regret, but I can only imagine that the writers, producers, director and actors have lost much more time and have done irreparable damage to their reputations. The only good thing I can say is that actor playing Agent Quincannon reminds me of 70's porn actor Scott Noll, unfortunately he seems to come from the same deer in the headlights school of acting porn actors do.
The sad thing is that the set up, the idea behind the film is not half bad. It's a little like Hard Candy meets L.I.E. (which this "screenwriter/producer" also created. He seems to be plagiarizing himself and doing some self-therapy all at once.)
The execution however is so laughably amateurish that at every aspect from beginning to end you are slack-jawed at how anyone involved in the production didn't just walk away. That the actors had to deliver such leaden lines is one thing, but if you are gonna have such a terrible script then at least the producers should have insisted in casting better actors. Or perhaps this was a case of producers scraping the bottom of the barrel as no self-respecting actor would ever take on a role if they actually bothered to read the script.
Did I watch the entire thing? Yes,I unfortunately did. Did I feel my time was wasted, no doubt. So why didn't I walk away? Because I expected at least something to happen to elevate it to camp status. That moment unfortunately never came, which leads me to believe everyone involved actually thought they were making something good.
What a disappointment.
glevedacier30 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The idea seemed very interesting and the first half of the movie was very good. We could.possibly close our eyes on the technical and acting shortcomings there because the story was solid and even beautiful. Its strong romanticism emanated from the sincerity in the writing with the realism in the growing of the physical attraction between the boy and the woman. No need to show anything. It felt real and sweet. Most of all during the dancing scene ending with a starred night. It was beautiful. But then the nightmare begins. The sweet boy turns into a rude lazy frustrating as.....le, losing everything that made him look like a "hero" and the special realationship vanishes into a dustbin. He had something special and that special thing was the cement of the movie. Since it dies, the rest of the movie drags itself painfully to the end where the bottom is reached.with a writing so lazy that it can be asked if the original writer did not quit in the middle and let the scriptwriting to the pizza delivery guy. It's extremely disapponiting. The only question the movie asks is: who is the real victim? But this question could have been more profound if the story had gone further. It also contradicts itself gravely because it was to be understood that the boy could not trick the woman emotionally _ but he does it, by acting like the kind of ass....le she hated. What on Earth was that? The idea was very interesting and the first half was the movie was admirable for its realism and its audacity. But it shoots itself in the foot hafway and ends up like a sordid and destitute fan-fiction. It made me dream for a while.
Brave Abduction Thriller
a-carole31 May 2011
As a woman (and a feminist,) I find the Abduction of Zach Butterfield a brave attempt at exposing the taboo subject of a woman as sexual predator. This topic was dealt with unflinchingly in this audacious effort by an obviously neophyte director. The actors did a great job at portraying their characters and the cinematographer did an excellent job of framing the beauty of the Hudson Valley.
Brett Helsham did an amazing job of portraying the bi-polar and PTSD haunted personality of the protagonist, April. TJ Plunkett as Zack was superb. But I related most to the heart-wrenching scenes of Lisa Gunn as the bewildered mother waiting for her son to return home.
This is a very emotional and dramatic film; I immediately hated April and loved Zack. The bathroom scene was my favorite. It was exciting to watch Zack plot his escape. I'll have to watch this thriller at least five more times for a proper critique.
Brett Helsham did an amazing job of portraying the bi-polar and PTSD haunted personality of the protagonist, April. TJ Plunkett as Zack was superb. But I related most to the heart-wrenching scenes of Lisa Gunn as the bewildered mother waiting for her son to return home.
This is a very emotional and dramatic film; I immediately hated April and loved Zack. The bathroom scene was my favorite. It was exciting to watch Zack plot his escape. I'll have to watch this thriller at least five more times for a proper critique.
Beautifully shot and directed.
iammenkphoto25 April 2011
Beautifully rendered depiction of psychology of interrelationship that can develop between captor and captured...Using older woman - younger boy to illustrate how this can occur. A too frequent scenario, usually passed by, here examined with depth, clarity and sensitivity. The relationships most frequently used to illustrate this are between older men and younger women, or between persons of the same sex. Iraq was the first war in which we sent women into combat. Post traumatic stress disorder is expressed in many ways. Using this disorder, the writer and director have detailed the development of this relationship with such finesse that the viewer is alternately thrown from compassion to revulsion to sorrow. If you have it within you, you will come away with greater depth of feeling and understanding about this condition. The cinematography by Aric Jacobson is exquisite. (I shot the set stills for this film.)
The aftermath of war, coming of age, and other traumas
gradyharp22 March 2015
Now and then along comes a new film by a young director who co-wrote a story and brings it to life with a degree of freshness that makes us look forward to further works from his hands. Such is the case for Rick Lancaster whose little film THE ABDUCTION OF ZACK BUTTERFIELD deserves attention. Rick comes to this project well prepared: he attended Harvard, Yale, NYU (Drama) and Cornell University where he graduated with honors with two Bachelors Degrees, and went on to earn a Masters Degree. Rick then attended Film Editors school in New York City, learned the craft and became a member of the Film Editors Union. Catching the bug for directing he found a friendly mentor (and producer) in Stephen Ryder, the CEO of Metropolis Films, whose skills in writing are well known (the highly honored and populate L.I.E.) and together these two men wrote the screenplay and gathered a young cast of very fine talent and out came THE ABDUCTION OF ZACK BUTTERFIELD.
The story takes chances and that is why it works so well. A polished high school 14-year-old athlete (martial arts) and fine student – Zach (beautifully underplayed by TJ Plunkett) is not one to go along with his in-crowd macho classmates but has a fine and healthy relationship with his parents (Lisa Gunn and Aaron Letrick) and girlfriend Emily (Celine du Tertre). Out on a jog Zack is abducted by the beautiful April (Brett Helsham) who happens to be an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran with a creepy dysfunctional family history. April cuffs Zack, tacks him to a hidden cottage in the back country, and places a necklace loaded with malleable explosive beads, and begins what appears to be a BDSM relationship. Gradually both April and Zack find aspects of their own needs fulfilled by the other and have a deepening if bizarre relationship. At home Zack's parents continue to watch for Zack's return and the local sheriff (played with unusual skill by Stephen Ryder) and FBI agents try to find him. An incident changes the plot after three months have passed - a young lad finds the cabin when seeking for assistance with his stalled car, sees Zack through the window, April notices and ends the lad's interference. Zack now realizes the full extent of April's war and childhood damaged psyche and the film ends with a surprise.
The story is told with restraint, due no doubt to Rick Lancaster's sensitive direction, and there are many subtle inferences about the manner in which we are living at present that give the story significant substance. This is a strong film from a committed company and crew top to bottom and deserves a wider theatrical release.
The story takes chances and that is why it works so well. A polished high school 14-year-old athlete (martial arts) and fine student – Zach (beautifully underplayed by TJ Plunkett) is not one to go along with his in-crowd macho classmates but has a fine and healthy relationship with his parents (Lisa Gunn and Aaron Letrick) and girlfriend Emily (Celine du Tertre). Out on a jog Zack is abducted by the beautiful April (Brett Helsham) who happens to be an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran with a creepy dysfunctional family history. April cuffs Zack, tacks him to a hidden cottage in the back country, and places a necklace loaded with malleable explosive beads, and begins what appears to be a BDSM relationship. Gradually both April and Zack find aspects of their own needs fulfilled by the other and have a deepening if bizarre relationship. At home Zack's parents continue to watch for Zack's return and the local sheriff (played with unusual skill by Stephen Ryder) and FBI agents try to find him. An incident changes the plot after three months have passed - a young lad finds the cabin when seeking for assistance with his stalled car, sees Zack through the window, April notices and ends the lad's interference. Zack now realizes the full extent of April's war and childhood damaged psyche and the film ends with a surprise.
The story is told with restraint, due no doubt to Rick Lancaster's sensitive direction, and there are many subtle inferences about the manner in which we are living at present that give the story significant substance. This is a strong film from a committed company and crew top to bottom and deserves a wider theatrical release.
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