CURVE

US, 2015, 85 minutes, Colour.

Julianne Hough, Teddy Sears, Drew Rausch.

Directed by Iain Softley.

This is a survival thriller. It is from Blumhouse pictures, producer Jason Blum, earlier in his career which, in the latter part of the 2010s, became much more significant, the company being more prolific, a higher profile with a variety of thriller and horror films.

The plot of this film is fairly basic. Julianne Huff plays Mallory, halfway by car between San Francisco and Denver where she is going for her wedding. Initially she is in communication with her sister by phone. As she drives, quietly happy, she decides to go aside journey in a picturesque canyon. However, the car simply breaks down, stops. As she tries to fix the car, a stranger arrives, courteous, able to fix the difficulty. As she drives off, she has second thoughts, or to offer him a lift – which he accepts. The stranger is played by Teddy Sears,, charming Mallory and the audience.

However, he begins to be quietly menacing, Mallory regretting her decision, and her trying to swerve the car on a mountain curve but its going over the cliff, the stranger being ejected, but Mallory caught in the car, upside down, her leg pinioned and unable to withdraw it.

The film has Mallory spending several days and nights in the car, surviving on a bottle of water, even cooking some flesh from a rat that she has killed. The stranger comes and goes, mouthing statements about fate and decisions, tricking her into telling the story of her first sexual encounter then ridiculing her, coming and going, giving her tools, even a saw suggesting that she amputate her leg. In the meantime, he speaks about going to a house nearby and receiving hospitality. And, it rains and rains, and the nearby river begins to flood.

There is a moment of hope when the local deputy stops to help the stranger with his car, thinks he hears cries but is persuaded that he does not.

Audiences will be wondering how Mallory will get out of her predicament – and the answer is with the waters rising, dislodging the car, sweeping it downstream, hitting against rocks and ejecting Mallory who swims to shore. As expected, the stranger has killed the members of the household, has tied up the deputy on cross beams and kills him. However, one young woman has survived, tied up, is freed by Mallory and, together, they are able to fend off the stranger, his falling over a balcony and his leg being fixed in an iron trap.

Perhaps nothing new, but a variation on the theme for those who enjoy this kind of thriller. Surprisingly, the film was directed by Iain Softley, a British director who had his main success in the 1990s with such films as Hackers, Backbeat, K-Pax.