- Year: 2017
- Country: South Africa
- Director: Mark Jackson
- Starring: Christia Visser, Tamryn Speirs, Scot Cooper
A couple headed to a weekend home in the mountains in South Africa pick up a hitch-hiker, Liza, who through a set of circumstances ends up having to stay with them when they arrive. Trouble starts to set in when Liza starts to test their boundaries. When you look at the poster of the film, you expect a Grindhouse-like exploitation film and I believe this is more than anything else responsible for the film’s incredibly low imdb.com rating of 3.8 (the online reviewers mostly complained at how slow the film was, likely expecting plenty of sex and blood). Although the film hints at suspense/horror (through a ridiculous subplot in the last 15 minutes), it’s actually more of a character study and a drama. Impeccably well shot on location in Cedarberg, Cape Town, South Africa, it’s a pleasure for the eyes with its vast open landscapes and mountains. I especially liked Christia Visser as Liza: she has attitude and charisma to spare and is by far the most convincing of the three actors. Cool Spaghetti-Western style music too gives the film personality but likely owes a small debt to Tarantino. The film works best when Liza takes the couple out of their comfort zone and thankfully never goes into melodrama: you never quite know what turns the film will take and up until the last 15 minutes, I really enjoyed it. A silly final act doesn’t exactly ruin the movie, but I wouldn’t watch it again either unfortunately as a result. Uneven, but when it’s good it shows incredible promise considering it’s writer/director Mark Jackson’s first feature film. Shot in less than two weeks for less than US$20,000.00.
Cinema Del Peppel 