Emily and Ethan have a summer relationship and, although they both know that it will come to an end, Emily seems particularly possessive of this new love. Meanwhile, any friend of hers that even looks twice at Ethan, appears to be going missing. Any connection?
As the plot summary suggests, of course there is a connection, and the film enjoys that we know this and seems to relax about making this a very nuanced thriller, but instead turns the intensity up and just lets us enjoy that element of it. It is quite basic as a result of this, and for sure, although the narrative produces a nice surprise in there, it really does everything in a very functional and descriptive way – there was probably too much where it just told me rather than showing me or letting me work it out. This directness and simplicity does really limit how much it can draw the viewer in though – even the slightly surprising development in the plot has to be very clearly stated for some reason.
The result is that it is best enjoyed as a rather simple bunny boiler, which is made easier by the fact that Von Oswald is intensely nuts through it – managing to be attractive and also clearly a killer, just by her eyes, which is really nice. Neumeyer's performance is a bit lacking, but in this film it is not so evident. The production values add to this feel, since they are also fairly functional – with locations, lighting and other aspects all lacking a bit of polish. It is ultimately the writing that hurts it though – a bit more polish, subtlety, and nuance to go along with the trashy intensity, and maybe this could have been better than it was?
