- Director: Levin Garbisch
- Writer: Levin Garbisch
- Stars: Vida GhaffariAnnabel BarrettOlivia Blue
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes
- Link: https://amzn.to/3Al0PtI
Synopsis
Soren has a girl in a shed out in the desert. He hears voices in his head, telling him to “Kill her!” He wants to, but he can’t do it. He wants his first kill to be memorable, and he doesn’t think she’s special. He knocks her out, dumps her in the desert alive, and drives away. “Find another one!” Shouts the voice in his head. Soren returns to Barstow, California.
We cut to a trio of girls getting drunk in the desert. Kaylee and Olivia are Miranda’s friends. The next morning, Miranda’s parents warn her not to drink too much tonight. Soren sits outside his car with the names and photos of all three girls in his book.
Miranda runs into Soren on the street that night, and he’s still stalking the trio. The following night, he’s out there again waiting for her. This time, he injects her with something and shoves her into his car. She wakes up the next morning chained up in his desert shed. She’s not happy, and she tries to talk him into letting her go. He explains what’s going to happen and then starts the torture.
He “plays” with her for several days and finally gets bored with her. He cuts her throat and she bleeds out. The voice in Soren’s head is finally pleased with him. “I finally killed someone!”
The he turns around and she’s standing there healthy and without a drop of blood on her. He drops an axe on her head. And she gets up again. She just keeps getting back up, apparently she doesn’t even feel pain. Apparently, she can’t be killed.
After a bit of freaking out, the two experiment with her new super power for a bit.
They stop at a convenience store and talk to a giant rabbit. Soren doesn’t really believe Miranda is real, and the rabbit’s reassurance of reality isn’t completely believable. Then the rabbit dies, and Miranda and Soren drive away.
They argue and stop the car. They meet the fox, who walks up and says “Hello.” He’s out for a long walk with Percy the stuffed fox. The fox has a conversation about ants, and the fox is wise and enigmatic.
They leave the fox behind and go to a motel. She goes into the bathroom and saws her arm off, and then it reappears reattached. The two talk a lot more. She drinks two and a half bottles of vodka, dies, and gets up completely sober.
Miranda then encounters the cat. There’s a dead cat in the dumpster. Every day, there is a dead cat in the dumpster. The woman sees them everywhere.
Soren and Miranda continue their journey back to Barstow. “What’s gonna happen when we get there?” She asks.
What will happen? Is any of this real? Will everyone have a happy ending? Will anyone have one?
Commentary
This is a fairly low-budget film, at $50,000. It looks good, it sounds good, the acting is well-over average for this kind of film, and it doesn’t really give off an “indie film” kind of vibe. The sets aren’t much to speak of, as a lot of the outdoor shots take place in the desert.
The rabbit’s story is weird. The fox’s wisdom is creepy. The cat’s story is depressing.
Still, the movie takes a downturn when Soren and Miranda separate toward the end. Once they get back to Barstow, the fun all stops. The final conversation that Miranda has at night in the desert does tie it all up and sorta makes sense, which is really good.
The gore is pretty minimal considering the story, and most of the real violence takes place off-screen. There’s a lot of talking this film, but it’s not boring at all and the characters they run into are just over-the-top cool. I liked this way more than I expected to.