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Hazard depicts the opioid crisis ravaging rural America with a raw and unflinching lens. Writer and director Eddie Mensore pulls no punches as a drug user's entire family is consumed by a deadly epidemic's unsparing brutality. The film takes an all-encompassing view that incorporates multiple perspectives. We see desperate users clamoring for their next fix, regardless of the consequences; a frustrated cop trying to stem the tide; and ruthless profiteers supplying the carnage without a thought to the devastating aftermath. Hazard is admittedly heavy-handed at times and offers few narrative surprises, but tells harsh truths that sadly cannot be discounted.

Set in Hazard, Kentucky, the majestic beauty of the Appalachian mountain range is juxtaposed by grime-covered coal miners leaving another arduous shift. Will (Alex Roe) coughs and winces as a pill mill doctor writes another prescription for OxyContin. He gets high before driving in a daze past dilapidated homes and shuttered stores.