Richard (an excellent performance by Thomas Jane, who also directed) and Gina (a fine portrayal by the fetching Lauren German) are a pair of newlyweds who decide to drive off into the desert on their honeymoon. Things take a surreal turn for the nightmarish after the couple gets lost in some godforsaken nowheresville wasteland.
Jane brings a real dazzling and dynamic cinematic panache to the compellingly strange material: The garish comic book style and Geoff Boyle's slick'n'splashy cinematography suggest an episode of "The Twilight Zone" crossed with an issue of EC Comics with a generous sprinkling of brooding gloomy noir added for good measure, the desolate backwoods locations are put to effectively bleak and stifling use, the pace kicks into manic overdrive in the harrowing second half, the blatant green screen work creates a heightened artificiality which further enhances the overall oddball and unsettling vibe, and the wickedly amusing touches of pitch-black humor serve as the tasty cherry on an already deliciously twisted celluloid cake. Tab Murphy's intriguing abstract script keeps viewers guessing to the end what's truly going on and reaches a bitterly ironic conclusion with Richard trapped in a continual purgatory of his own hideous device. Ron Perlman does well in a sizable secondary role as a cynical state trooper. Not for all tastes, but still recommended for adventurous folks with a hankering for something different and out of the ordinary.
Jane brings a real dazzling and dynamic cinematic panache to the compellingly strange material: The garish comic book style and Geoff Boyle's slick'n'splashy cinematography suggest an episode of "The Twilight Zone" crossed with an issue of EC Comics with a generous sprinkling of brooding gloomy noir added for good measure, the desolate backwoods locations are put to effectively bleak and stifling use, the pace kicks into manic overdrive in the harrowing second half, the blatant green screen work creates a heightened artificiality which further enhances the overall oddball and unsettling vibe, and the wickedly amusing touches of pitch-black humor serve as the tasty cherry on an already deliciously twisted celluloid cake. Tab Murphy's intriguing abstract script keeps viewers guessing to the end what's truly going on and reaches a bitterly ironic conclusion with Richard trapped in a continual purgatory of his own hideous device. Ron Perlman does well in a sizable secondary role as a cynical state trooper. Not for all tastes, but still recommended for adventurous folks with a hankering for something different and out of the ordinary.