FAQ

Katie Burkholder (Neve Campbell), chief of police in Painters Mill, Ohio, a small farming community with a sizable Amish population and once Amish herself before deciding to leave the community, is called to investigate the murder of a young Amish woman. The killer's signature—Roman numerals carved into each victim's abdomen—matches the MO of the Slaughterhouse Killer, responsible for attacking ffive young girls 16 years earlier. Aided by the state's Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) profiler John Tomasetti (Noam Jenkins), she must now strive to find out whether the Slaughterhouse Killer is back or whether they have a copycat on their hands.

The movie is based on Sworn to Silence, a 2011 novel by American crime writer Linda Castillo. The book was adapted for the movie by screenwriter Mark Malone.

Detrick (C. Thomas Howell) drags Kate, bound and gagged, into the house and prepares to exsanguinate her. Meanwhile, John is looking over a list of abandoned properties in the area when Skid remembers Detrick's grandparents' house, long abandoned. John heads out there, leaving orders to ring the community bell and get everyone Amish included to look for her. Just as Detrick is about to hang Kate up, John arrives. Detrick starts a fire and runs out the back while John, fighting his PTSD, frees Kate. Detrick attempts to hide in the bar but is cornered by Kate and several police officers. Suddenly Lucas (Jilon VanOver) walks in and bravely approaches Detrick, taking away his gun. Kate is subsequently re-instated as Chief of Police. In the final scene, Kate is running down the road. As she passes the Amish farms and carriages, they wave to her and she waves back.

Surprisingly, there are several films that have been set in Amish communities including Witness (1985) (1985) in which a young Amish boy witnesses a murder, A Stoning in Fulham County (1988) (1988) in which the Amish and the law clash when an Amish infant is killed, Harvest of Fire (1996) (1996) in which an FBI agent investigates an arson in an Amish community, and For Richer or Poorer (1997) (1997) in which two hustlers hide in an Amish community. More recent movies about the Amish include Plain Truth (2004) (2004) in which an Amish girl is accused of smothering her baby, Saving Sarah Cain (2007) (2007) in which a newspaper reporter attempts to raise her five Amish nieces and nephews, orphaned after the death of her Amish sister, Amish Grace (2010) (2010) based on the true story about the murder of five Amish schoolgirls and the wounding of five others, and The Shunning (2011) (2011) about the coming of age of a young adopted Amish woman. Hutterites and Old Order Mennonites are distinct (especially linguistically) from each other and from the Amish, but they all have some cultural similarities. Along those lines, Holy Matrimony (1994) (1994) may be of interest.