Stylish and populated by a cast of beautiful actors, this would-be Thriller comes out of the box strong and intriguing before falling apart in the last act. Might work as a weeknight rental for some, but others will be left disappointed that the kettle heats up and shifts on the stove, rattling without ever making it to a full boil.
Grace (super gorgeous Emily Redpath) has just broken up with her long-distance boyfriend. Needing a change of scenery, she drives to the English countryside to visit her longtime friend Liv (Sarah Alexandra Marks) and Liv’s husband, Edward (Louis James).
The couple live in a gorgeous house and, as it’s Edward’s birthday, they invite Grace to get drunk and spend the night. It’s clear from the get-go that they aren’t really that keen to have company, and the reason surely has something to do with secrets they’ve been keeping.
Some of the layers are peeled back early on – I think.
I’m not sure if writer/director/producer/editor Blake Ridder is trying to use that one narrative device where a character looks into the distance, imagining the conversation going one way, only to be snapped out of her daze to see that the conversation has actually gone in a whole different direction.
The reason I’m not sure is that the film is so clumsily edited that it’s hard to know if Ridder has simply brought poor execution to the device, or if he had to edit in the sequence he did because he lacked footage (being generous) or needed another set of eyes on his screenplay (more likely).
Either way, my confusion served to keep me interested in where things were going. Alas, the dramatic tension doesn’t offer a satisfying pay off, I’m sorry to say.
Honorable mention goes to Polly, Edward’s adorable dog. I won’t spoil anything by describing Polly’s fate, but Ridder would have been wise to take the advice of Tom Hanks, who had a good theory on why Turner and Hooch was a box office bomb.
HELP is now On Demand and Digital
