- Directed by Alexander McGregor Birrel
- Written by Alexander McGregor Birrel, Joshua Tonks
- Stars Joshua Tonks, Jay Clift, William Tippery
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 23 Minutes
- Trailer: https://youtu.be/nZMbue7E5Jg?si=EkpVPxFkn1uHnfab
Spoiler Free Judgement Zone
This one has you wondering what’s really happening, what’s real or imaginary, and what the characters are actually up to. The three guys do an excellent job, the setting and set is perfect, and the script is clever with good pacing. We both really liked it right through to the end.
Synopsis
Ben is a writer, banging away at a typewriter. He cuts himself and bleeds all over the page. He’s working alone out in a cabin in the woods. He hears someone outside and goes to investigate. Much later that night, he sees someone with a flashlight outside. We see that there’s someone inside with him. The stranger cuts Ben’s throat.
Then Ben wakes up at his desk. That was all a dream, but there is a stranger sitting on his couch who’s bleeding and asks for bandages. The man takes his clothes off and is passed out when Ben comes back into the room.
In the morning, Ben wakes up, and the stranger is reading the draft of his book. He says his ride broke down, and he got lost in the woods. Ben explains that he’s been writing a mystery thriller. The man says he’s visited this cabin before while hunting. Ben offers to drive him into town, but he declines.
We cut to Ben exploring the woods with his vintage film camera. He finds a single shoe out in the woods. He films the stranger looking in the trunk of his car. When the man walks away, Ben sneaks over to see what’s in the trunk, but he doesn’t get that far. The man decides to stay and try to fix his car.
Ben gets a message from Jamie, whom Ben has abandoned back home. The man has left his jacket on the kitchen chair, and Ben smells it before putting it on. Jamie shows up, and he’s Ben’s boyfriend; they kiss and make up for the fight they had. Except Jamie’s not really there, that was Ben’s imagination.
The man goes off into the woods with a shovel and starts digging. What did he have in the trunk? The man burns some clothes, but they don’t seem to be his clothes. Night falls, and the man says he can’t fix the car. It’s two hours each way to town, so he’ll have to stay the night again.
The man admits he’s been living out of his car and had hoped the cabin was empty; that’s why he’s here. The man takes a shower, so Ben goes through all the man’s stuff. He finds a black ski mask. The man comes out of the shower and grabs Ben– for a kiss. Then he bends him over the table and gives Ben what he’s been waiting for– no, that was just Ben’s imagination again.
Ben and the man talk about the plot of the story. Ben says his story was based on a real case of someone who went missing in this very cabin. Actually, several people went missing, and that’s interesting to Ben. The man talks about better ways to kill a man than what Ben had in his book. The man talks about tying Ben up and tormenting him; it’s clear that the man could overpower Ben at any time. Ben likes it and tells him to keep going, so the man ties his hands and sits him in a chair. It’s all heading toward erotic until the man uses a gay slur, which is an immediate turnoff for Ben, who asks to be untied.
Ben goes to bed alone. He dreams about Jamie, who tells him to wake up. He goes outside in the dark and checks out the man’s trunk. It’s got the IDs of several people, along with a hunting rifle. He then finds out that his own car is broken as well. Ben tells the man that it’s time to leave. Now.
Ben goes inside to find his typewriter smashed and the manuscript shredded all over the floor. The man talks about a hitchhiker who always “gets away with it,” and “has had a lot of practice.” We get a flashback to Jamie stopping to pick the man up. “He was easy prey.”
The man tells Ben that Jamie’s out in the woods and gives him a head start to go find him. He calls Jamie’s phone and follows the ringing he hears until he finds Jamie, not dead, in the woods. No, that was imagination; he’s really dead.
The man arrives and tells Ben to pick up the shovel and bury Jamie. Ben refuses to dig. “You’re just gonna have to shoot me.” The man laughs that he’s out of bullets, so Ben whacks him with the shovel and runs.
The man chases Ben back to the cabin. Ben holds the man off with a knife, but the man is too fast. They struggle with each for quite a long while. Eventually, Ben stabs the man right through his forehead.
Nope, all of that was just Ben’s book. Jamie says that’s a little excessive; he thinks the ending is too dark. “I don’t think he’d be able to live with something like that.”
Ben raises the knife, but then he stops and puts it down again. The man gets up behind him…
Ben wakes up in the woods, in the process of being buried by the man right next to Jamie, who smiles.
The man goes back inside the house and takes a shower to wash the blood off. Someone very dirty comes inside. The man hears something and goes to investigate. Ben appears and cuts the man’s throat. No, the man was just having a dream. He gets up and starts cleaning up the cabin, removing all the evidence.
Except he forgot the film camera that proved he was there…
Commentary
The set and setting are excellent, and the music and sound are great too. There are only three real characters, and they all do fine as well.
I was wondering all along if the man was simply a figment of Ben’s imagination or just him visualizing his thriller story. I also wondered what really happened to Jamie, as his absence was suspicious all along. Even as it all developed, I wasn’t quite sure what was real and what was imaginary, which was fun all the way to the end.
With only three actors and a cabin, films don’t get much more bare-bones or low-budget than this, but it all looks really good and is entertaining throughout.
Very good!