RIDGE RUNNERS -- Movie Review by Porfle

Low-budget and low-key, RIDGE RUNNERS (Indican Pictures, 2018) is a methodical police procedural that eschews big action moments and forced drama for a more realistic approach which highlights the personal lives of a female police detective and her male partner as they investigate the disappearance of a young girl.

Rachel Willow (Jennica Schwartzman) is single, lives with her widowed mother, and doesn't want to be a cop anymore.  She's having an affair with her partner Rob Shepherd (Austin Haley) which is a dead end since, in addition to being a decent guy, he happens to be married.

Still, they work well together, which comes in handy when they're charged with finding out what happened to 12-year-old Halley Dawn (Tatum Chandler), who has disappeared from the home where she lives with her ne'er-do-well mom Maddie (Charlee Graham). 

What they don't know, we do--the movie opens with a frightened Halley being forced to turn tricks at a truck stop, obviously having been kidnapped into the sex trade.  So we know what's at stake, how much danger the little girl is in, and how imperative it is that Rachel and Rob solve this case as quickly as possible.

Which, of course, happens at about the same speed as pouring molasses.  Their investigation is slow, painstaking, and by the book, as they question the usual suspects including Maddie, her neighbors, Halley's teacher Mr. Flynn (Jennica Schwartzman's husband Ryan), and, most importantly, the shady characters Maddie works for as an accountant at a race track owned by a lowlife named Clayton (Jason Thompson).

The secret of Halley's captor (or captors) is revealed surprisingly early, turning the story from a mystery into a race against time.  But we still get some shocking surprises here and there as we discover some of the other people involved in the crime and also witness the sad (but realistic) demise of a major character through the eyes of various world-weary loved ones. 

While some may find RIDGE RUNNERS too slow and unsensational for their tastes, I was gradually drawn into and captivated by this slice-of-life look at frustrating and often fruitless detective work as well as interpersonal concerns which are equally well-drawn and share the same fruitless frustration.

Jonesboro, Arkansas natives Hunter West and Austin Lott make their feature debuts here as director and writer, respectively, setting the film in their relatively quiet hometown which throws the sordid events into sharper relief.  

The performances are restrained and controlled, yet on the mark.  Jennica Schwartzman is especially good as Rachel, whose uncertainty about her job tends to fade when circumstances turn her into a smart, dogged, and finally almost vengeful agent of justice. 

RIDGE RUNNERS lets us settle into a story that's involving without having to be stoked up with empty action and melodrama.  When all the plot threads start winding together, it's exciting enough just to see what finally happens and how it affects the people inexorably caught up in it all.


Tech Specs
Runtime: 80 mins
Format: 2:35
Sound: Dolby SR
Country: USA
Language: English
Website: www.IndicanPictures.com
Genre: Thriller

RIDGE RUNNERS -- Movie Review by Porfle

Slasher Horror Feature "CRAZY LAKE" Promises a Rip-Roaring Good Time

CRAZY LAKE

“What Doesn’t Kill You...Rips You Apart!”

West Hollywood, California (Tuesday, September 19th) - Directors Jason Henne and Christopher Leto were influenced by slashers, from the ‘80s. Now, they deliver their own slasher to horror fans, this October. Titled Crazy Lake, this film brings several friends together at a remote camping spot. It is all fun and good times, until an escaped convict enters the area. Rob Mello (Magnificent Seven), Skyler Joy (21 Jump Street), Libby Blanton, Marco DelVecchio and many more star in this brutal, new take on the genre.  Crazy Lake will be out this October!

Distributor Indican Pictures just released the official trailer and poster for Crazy Lake. The poster promises blood and terror, on the nearby docks. Meanwhile, the trailer shows more of the characters and their good times. But, the fun is replaced by tall tales of experiments and criminals, until a local legend is brought into the picture. Now, it is a struggle, for the friends, to just stay alive.

After its World Premiere at the Sunscreen Film Festival in Florida, the film is scheduled for an October home entertainment release. Indican will show the film through Video-on-demand and on DVD this October 3rd. Henne and Leto promise a rip roaring and bloody good time on the shores of Crazy Lake!

WATCH THE TRAILER:

The film’s official synopsis: A group of coeds looking for fun on spring break have their beach plans cancelled and opt for plan B – fun at a cabin on the lake. Sometimes plan b can be a real killer!
Release Date: October 3rd, 2017 (VOD, DVD).

Directors: Jason Henne, Christopher Leto.  Writer: Jason Henne.

Cast: Rob Mello, Skyler Joy, Libby Blanton, Marco DelVecchio, Tom Latimer and Ashley Nicole Allen.

More film details will be posted at Indican: http://www.indicanpictures.com/indicanpictures/crazy-lake/

Crazy Lake at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrazyLake

About Indican Pictures
Indican Pictures acquires and distributes feature films to a broad range of entertainment outlets by providing a diverse selection of movies across: theatrical, home video, TV, VOD, PPV and streaming platforms.

Slasher Horror Feature "CRAZY LAKE" Promises a Rip-Roaring Good Time

APT 3D -- Movie Review by Porfle

The old "haunted apartment" routine gets another crack at chilling our jaded blood in APT 3D (2014).  And, in its own slow, low-key, almost minimalist sort of way--with a few unexpected elements tossed into the mix, including sci-fi--it kinda does.

First-time writer-director Zack Imbrogno (with co-director Horst Dieter Baum) plays it like a slow tease, never giving us too much information at a time but always keeping us on edge, making us wait for each little clue as to what the hell's going on.

It all starts when Ben (Imbrogno) and his girlfriend Erin (Maxxe Sternbaum) move into the New York apartment of Ben's sister during her three-month jaunt to Africa.  Ben's all excited about his new TV-writing job, but Los Angeles girl Erin feels like a fish out of water and hates being left alone during the day.  This is just the beginning of a growing rift between them.

Making matters worse is a pushy, too-friendly neighbor named Chris (Jordan Lewis), whom Erin eventually suspects of stalking her.  The tension level is increased when we're shown brief glimpses of this.  But is he simply a pervert?  Or is there something more complicated, and perhaps more sinister, at work?

The apartment is small and modern, hardly the spacious old Gothic layout we see in such films as THE RESIDENT, but the directors manage to make it eerie enough with peripheral touches we almost don't notice--a shadow flitting across the wall, a closed door creaking open a crack--and weird, unexplained noises emanating from the most unlikely places.

It seems like a simple case of either stalking or paranormal infestation, except there are other things at work here such as UFOs glimpsed from the rooftop and bizarre visions that come over both Ben and Erin.  Some of the physical manifestations they experience along with these hallucinations seem...well...alien in nature.

APT 3D strings us along expertly and maintains a constant level of suspense, brimming with paranoia, that neither overdoes it nor loses its tension.  The gradual introduction of the more unbelievable, improbable aspects of their baffling plight only adds to our rapt involvement, even when we share Ben and Erin's skepticism when the enigmatic Chris turns out to be their main source of information.

Any more than this I'm loathe to reveal, save that this modestly budgeted mini-thriller with limited locations, a tiny cast, and a modicum of visual effects lets its actors and story carry us along in lieu of spectacle or sensation.  It's like a crackerjack extended episode of some excellent TV anthology like "The Outer Limits" or "Friday the 13th--The Series."

The one sticking point--which may be a make-or-break thing for many viewers--is the abrupt ending. Just when I think it's switching into high gear, there's the fadeout leaving us hanging.  But the more I thought about it, the more satisfied I was with the way APT 3D gives me just enough information and then allows me to imagine what happens next.  

Tech Specs
Runtime: 79 mins
Format: 1:85 Flat
Sound: Dolby SR
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller

Buy it at Amazon.com

APT 3D -- Movie Review by Porfle