A young British couple are travelling through the outback, hitching a ride with a mysterious, charismatic American who becomes increasingly suspect. After this music montages(the first choice doesn't even seem to fit) its way through most of the first third, you might be led to believe that it's picking up. You would be sorely mistaken. It never actually goes anywhere, in spite of genuine potential, and the very last portion of this just gives up on being convincing(especially as far as the actions and logic goes, and it was already on shaky ground). This is a road movie, psychological horror exploitation flick set in Australia, and as such, it is decent. The filming and editing are skillful enough(it even creates mood several times) and there is one or two bits that are downright good. Characters are pretty bland, undeveloped and not entirely credible. Alex, the boyfriend with a secret he doesn't want her to discover, is the best in the latter regard. Their behaviour and poor decision-making abilities keep the paperthin, predictable plot just barely going, until the seemingly ceaseless 80 minutes finally come to a close. Acting isn't bad. This is mostly focused on the three leads, albeit they're not isolated(I expected this to have them stranded and that be a cause of conflict, and it went stupider than that) for more than maybe half of this combined. One has to wonder why they don't simply get out of the situation since that's clearly the smarter option. They have cell phones, too. Operating ones. Yet we're just expected to accept this at face value. For an interesting psycho(whose attraction may not be towards Sophie... not that it actually pays off to notice that) and potentially visually compelling setting(not photographed in any kind of engaging way) and other things I've mentioned, this doesn't actually end up offering anything worth it in return for your investment of time and attention. There is a bit of disturbing content, a little gory/bloody violence and sexuality and momentary nudity in this. The DVD comes with a reasonable and informational enough 29 and a half minute featurette and 8 minutes of deleted(or rather, extended, not to mention padded, no-wonder-these-were-cut) scenes. I recommend this to people who enjoy this kind of thing. 4/10
