User Reviews

I think that it's important to be able to separate the intention of the filmmakers and the importance of the issue from how effective the film actually is.

This movie follows a white, middle-class girl who is sold(?!) to a pimp by a group of her (white, upper-class) classmates. She endures 8 days of captivity as her family works to rescue her.

I think that child sex trafficking is a very important issue and one that should have a higher profile in our country. But the version presented in this film, while not impossible, is certainly an anomaly. Kidnapping a clean-cut middle class white teenage girl (who has zero substance abuse issues and very minimal teenager conflict with her family) is simply not a good strategy for a sex trafficker. We aren't talking about something like the Elizabeth Smart case where the victim is locked away in a cellar or something by a single kidnapper. These people are staying in a hotel. She is seeing (according to the voice over) almost 7 different men each day. Her photo and name are plastered all over the news and on fliers around town.

A much better representation of child sex trafficking come from the other girls. Sugar, who is sold by her mother and BB, a runaway who falls in with the wrong crowd. These girls truly have no one on their side. No one is looking for them. Their names and faces never made it to the local news, much less a missing poster. They represent the kind of sex trafficking that has happened in my community.

I was also frustrated at times by the portrayal of the process of finding her. This film continues the misconception that you have to wait 2 full days to report someone missing. You do not!! In another scene the mother of the missing girl nods along when a family friend says "All we can do is pray." Um, what?! How about canvasing? Talking to the other kids at the party? Posting to any and every social media platform? Fundraising a reward for information? We are later vaguely told that the HSI uses an "online search" to look for Amber. The portrayal of finding a missing person is muddled and confusing.

Again: this is a really important issue. By chance I recently watched the film Holly which also addressed child sex trafficking (albeit on an international level). This is something that needs to be brought to the forefront. But I felt the specific story told in this film came off as implausible and confused. I appreciate the intentions of the filmmakers but implying that never letting your 16 year old daughter go to a party is the solution feels misguided.

Sex trafficking is an extremely important issue that deserves to be brought to the forefront of societal focus and concern. This film deserves credit for trying to do that. However, the acting and dialog was pretty bad which takes away from the importance of the issue.

In order to get people out of their comfort zone and discuss things that make them uneasy you need to get the issue to the table in the first place. When the reviews, like this one, mention how bad the actual film is then we are diverting our attention off the topic and on to the film itself.

However, it is better to have a bad movie about the perils of sex trafficking than to have no movie about sex trafficking. At least we are all here talking about it and that's a start.

Considering the severity of the topic it's disappointing how bad the acting in writing was. It seems like some kids got together and tried to make a movie for film class. They could've made this movie much more impactful.

I can not remember the last time I saw something so horribly acted. How anyone making, producing, directing or editing could possibly have let any part of this movie pass as releasable is beyond me.

Perhaps a documentary would have been a better approach than this amateurish melodrama. The subject certainly deserves greater awareness.

It sucked. It was like one of those cheap .10 cent movies that you could buy in a dark ally. It was like inexperience high school kids made this. You could guess the ending, and you could tell the tears where fake. There was no emotion at all! The way the girl was acting had no common sense to it! Like she couldn't walk half the time and cried the other half FOR NO REASON!

Was hard to get past the constant crying and extended scenes where everyone is quiet and nothing is being said for moments. Acting was not good at all. The film had a lot of great potential but I think it would have worked out better with a stronger message if made into a documentary.

I don't understand why some have given low ratings. This subject is being hushed up by the media. Just because you do not see this in the day light does not mean its not happening. This movie brings the subject into the day light. Wish the media had some ethics and would do some investigative reports on this subject.

I wish I could erase this horrible acting from my memory. It's an important message but this would've been better off never having been made- it's so bad, it's almost making a joke of the real issue. I can't even believe this is real. How did this get a $2.5m budget??

For such an important subject this film was terrible ! Where was the emotion? The fear? The lead actress was nothing short of abysmal and it was hard to even feel pity for her! This film should have been portraying an important message but failed miserably. Sorry.

Worst movie I have ever watched !!!!!! It should have be called who's turn to cry .this movie gave me a headache ,from all the bad acting ,and crying . Sucks ........

Horrific subject matter-everything else about this movie was awful. Sex trafficking needs to be brought to the forefront absolutely but I wasn't rooting for 1 person in this movie. If you want to watch an excellent movie about this subject, please watch Trafficked from 2017. I cried while writing that review

This is obviously the story of the serial rapist Ariel Castro who kidnapped the victims Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina de Jesus. Tortured and made them his sex slaves for 11 years. In 2013 luckily the three were able to escape from the hell house of Castro with the help of the latter's black neighbor who was shocked on how the evil Castro kept them for more than a decade without creating suspincion from his neighbors. After few minutes finally they were rescued by the cops.

This movie will open up the mind of the people about sex trafficking.

This is a true story which is so sad but the acting in this is so bad it was hard to watch!!!! I should have known in the beginning to turn it off but I wanted to see the story.

I made an account just so I could comment on how awful this film was. The message was really great, human trafficking happens every single day, and it's awful. Evil exists everywhere, I know that, but what I don't know is how anyone saw the finished product that is this film and let it loose into the world where people with eyes can see. The awful over-acting and forced crying gave me so much secondhand embaressment that I almost couldn't finish it. I know this is based on a true story, but was it necessary to make the black girl look like a willing participant? Who greenlit this script? Who's responsible for directing this? I hope they put the pen down and never write another script again. Please. I hope the actresses are/were able to find work after this film.

While the script, acting and writing are not top notch it isn't so bad that you cannot watch. If you're watching for the content like I am it is worth your time. This is a tragic story that is realistic in today's world. Sex trafficking needs to stop and until people make it an issue to tackle, we need movies like this that keep it in mind.

This is very frightening but necessary to watch based on actual events! Please watch and be aware of slavery hiding in plain sight! Be an Abolitionist! Stop childhood slavery NOW! This movie is helpful to let you know what to look for and what we can do to help stop these monsters!

It was a good movie that touches upon a real life problem.... made me cry at the end and is the movie perfect? No... is it hard to watch? Yes but it's a tough subject. I would give it a watch.

In this film we are taken to one of the darkest abyss humans can actually visit. Within this abyss, there is a hijacking of the brain and the willpower along with the murder of innocence, the extreme fright, the possibility of disease and the compelling control of the sick. To remain human after such an experience will be the only word that can fit...SURVIVOR. The only way to get to the survivor is with the help and fight of family, contentious human kindness and support, and the will of the Lord. The selling or trafficking of humans is beyond understanding in this day and age yet it is happening in our country right under our noses in our own neighborhoods. The kidnapping of the unsuspecting violating any trust is part of the recovery that takes the longest. But action is needed and needed now. I applaud this young woman for reaching out and beign the VOICE for the victims. I am an addiction psychologist specialist and I see this many times in clients that have been trying to survive with my professional help! More power to those who become aware and DO SOMETHING! Save our youth! LadyAnn68