- Directed by John Swab
- Written by John Swab
- Stars Olivia Luccardi, Sam Quartin, Eden Brolin
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0q2bHBzd0
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
There’s plenty of sex and violence in this one, with a little cult religion thrown in for good measure. It doesn’t make working as a sex worker at a truck stop much fun, and it was interesting seeing how that works. It wasn’t quite like we expected, and we liked it a lot.
Spoilery Synopsis
1996. A man and a woman have sex in a truck. She gets out and walks through the truck stop parking lot as credits roll. She appears to make regular rounds among the different truck drivers. This truck stop seems to get a lot of action; she even sets up customers with her CB. They call the place “Candyland.”
There are several working girls, and one working guy, who all talk about their customers in the parking lot. A vanload of religious people stop and begin proselytizing. Theo says he’ll show them the way to the kingdom of Heaven. He prays over them and then leaves. One of the girls, Sadie, soon finds a pamphlet from the group in her room, and she reads it.
Sheriff Rex drives by, and he wants Levi to go with him to do something we don’t see much of on screen. Sadie finds one of the religious girls, Remy, in her spot, and she’s been abandoned by the others. Riley, another of the hookers, finds a dead man in the restroom, so they call in Sheriff Rex. There’s lots of blood in there, but a lot of it is Riley’s who is having her period.
Rex tells Nora that they have no idea who killed the man, or even who he was. They plan to take him to the morgue and just bury him in a few days.
Remy spends the night in Sadie’s room; she’s been abandoned. The next morning, all the characters converge at the truck stop for breakfast, and they all have fun showing Abby normal-people’s food. She’s never had a hot dog before. Remy is confused by the prostitute’s lifestyles, but she says she can never go home.
That evening, Nora invites Remy inside for tea. Nora talks about how her girls are all really good kids. “We have a rule, you stay, you work. If you stay, we’ll take care of you. Want to stay with us for a while?” Remy’s never even been kissed before, so Nora fixes that. The next morning, all the hookers explain how everything works to Remy. The sheriff turns a blind eye to all of their “work.”
Nora has lined up a gentle customer for Remy, and he’ll be her first. Outside, Levi picks up a guy who wants to go in the back where it’s more private. This goes badly for Levi, who is knocked out and raped. Then it goes worse for the other guy when Levi turns around and beats him to death with a pipe.
There’s a knock at the door, and Remy opens it. It’s a priest, Father Phillip. He’s very soft-spoken and quiet, but she’s afraid of him. He takes his teeth out and then gets weird between her legs. She resists a bit, and he starts to struggle– until she kills him squeezing with her legs. Then she pulls out the knife hidden within her crucifix, and– there’s a knock at the door. All the girls come in and sing “Happy V-Day To You!” They don’t know the dead priest is under the bed.
Levi staggers in, and all the girls, Nora, and Rex look him over. Rex doesn’t want to call it in; the perp was probably the guy who killed that man in the restroom. Rex likes Levi, and the two of them make the body go away after some arguing.
The next morning, Theo comes to see Remy. She says she didn’t ask to withdraw, but he says her mind has been poisoned. He talks about how her mother got sick and mean, but Remy says he has a small mind. “We must cleanse the world before we can cleanse ourselves,” she says. Theo says he and the other elders decided they are all leaving tomorrow morning.
A truck driver wants something in his truck, and Remy says she’ll do it. The guy is bossy and she stabs him in the neck repeatedly. Liv sees her knife-cross in the restroom, so Remy uses it on her. The truck stop clerk comes in, and Remy stabs her as well.
Outside, Levi buys Remy a Sno-ball, and they talk about Theo. Another client drives up, and he says he’s never done this kind of thing before. Remy says he still must be cleansed. She starts talking about religion, and he decides to change his mind. She finishes him off like the others.
Someone finds the dead people in the restroom and calls the EMTs. Remy goes back to her room and smiles at the dead priest under the bed.
Bruce comes to see Nora, and he’s dressed in a Santa suit. He’s had a hard day, so she gets Riley to fix him up. Remy goes to Levi’s motel room to talk about the dead girl. They start to dance, and then kiss. They get undressed and she stabs him in the head with a pencil. She then goes next door and stabs Nora to death.
Riley comes to see Sadie, who is packing her bags. “I can’t do it anymore. I’m done.” Riley cries and leaves for Nora’s room. Then she goes to Remy’s room and Levi’s room, not realizing why no one is answering the door. She soon finds Remy and learns what’s up.
Sadie, packing her stuff, finds that religious pamphlet again. Remy comes in, clean and wearing her churchy dress. She tells Remy that she’s quitting and not coming back. She apologizes for abandoning Remy, but that’s OK because Remy says she’s going home. Remy offers for Sadie to come with her. “Riley and Levi are coming too,” she says, but Sadie knows they wouldn’t join a cult.
Sadie runs around the motel looking for her friends, but they’re all dead. “Don’t be scared Sadie, they’re waiting for us. They’ve been cleansed. I want you to come with me.” Remy stabs Sadie just like everyone else.
Just then, Sheriff Rex comes to talk to Nora and finds her body. He goes into the room with most of the bodies and finds Remy on her knees crying. He sees Levi and starts crying too.
Later, we see Rex driving Remy home to where Theo and others are. She asks him to come inside with her. Inside Rex is shocked to find Theo and the entire cult laying dead on the floor. “You were supposed to wait for me,” screams Remy. Yes, it’s a suicide cult, and they didn’t wait for her return.
Remy pulls her knife on Rex, who pulls his gun. She then stabs herself in the heart and joins the others.
Commentary
Keep in mind, this is absolutely a Christmas movie. “Hoe Hoe Hoe!”
The movie trailer makes this seem like it’s about a cult, but that’s not it at all. At least not mostly.
It’s well-paced and looks really good. I actually learned how truck stop hookers work, so it’s even educational. There’s plenty of blood and murder to go around.
It’s surprisingly good!