- Directed by John Hyams
- Written by Kevin Williamson, Katelyn Crabb
- Stars Gideon Adlon, Bethlehem Million, Dylan Sprayberry
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 23 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlS90jL1EHQ
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a bit of Scream meets COVID fear meets The Strangers. It was well made and okay all around, but not really much we hadn’t seen before. So it was pretty middle of the road as far as entertainment value.
Synopsis
April 3, 2020. The country is under heavy quarantine for COVID-19. The grocery shelves are empty of toilet paper. Everyone’s in masks. Someone’s texting Tyler repeatedly in the grocery, but he doesn’t know who it is. He goes home, and someone dressed like a ninja attacks him with a knife. He hides in the bathroom, and they run off—no, they’re right behind him. Tyler is soon dead. Credits roll.
Parker and Miri pack the car so they can go hide out from the plague at Parker’s dad’s lake house. They put on their masks before getting in the car and driving off on the near-empty roads. It’s a huge place, and the closest neighbor is two miles away.
As soon as they arrive, Parker starts getting the same kind of messages as Tyler. It’s almost like the person is watching them. She soon blocks the person.
That evening, a car pulls up outside, but they didn’t invite anyone else. It turns out that it’s DJ, Parker’s boyfriend. They say he can stay so long as he wears a mask. He saw her post on Instagram and knew the house, so he just came.
They talk, smoke, dance, and play all evening. DJ is jealous of Benji, some guy she danced with on Instagram. Parker warns DJ that they were never exclusive as we stop for some relationship drama. She refuses to give him what he wants, and he says he’ll leave first thing in the morning.
As DJ goes out to the car for his clothes, we see someone in the background sneak into the house. We see the same characters standing in the background as Parker and Miri talk later. Eventually, they all go to bed. Soon after, the shadowy figure cuts all the phone lines and steals their cells.
Parker and DJ soon figure out that they aren’t alone. DJ interrupts the ninja just as he tries to stab Miri, and there’s a protracted fight—that DJ loses. Parker and Miri get in the car, but that doesn’t help. Parker fights back, and she actually ends up beating him to death with an ice bucket. She pulls his mask off, and she doesn’t recognize the face.
Then the other masked killer comes in. This is really just Scream with a different wallpaper and theme, isn’t it? Parker rows out into the middle of the lake while Miri crawls back inside the house to patch up her broken leg. Parker ends up running to the neighbor’s house two miles away with the killer right behind her. The neighbor doesn’t live long, and neither do his phone lines.
Meanwhile, Miri builds a leg splint that would make Bob Vila proud.
Parker beats the killer over the head and flags down a car. The driver won’t open the car and let her in because she doesn’t have a COVID mask. The old woman gives her a mask; Parker puts it on and passes out. There’s something in the mask.
The old woman and the killer drive Parker back to the house, but they don’t realize Miri is still alive and hiding in there. The old woman gives Parker a COVID test up the nose and make sure she’s safe.
The killer takes his mask off and the man says he’s the dead killer in the kitchen’s father. He shows Parker the Insta video of Benji at the party. “I just made out with some guy at the party.” Benji was one of seven people that Parker had close contact with at that party; he died a few days ago. Parker says she doesn’t have COVID and never has. They killed Tyler because contact tracing says he was the one who gave it to Parker. The test comes up positive; Parker is asymptomatic.
Miri whacks the mother over the head, and they impale the father. Parker and Miri stagger through the field and into the barn, where there’s a small vehicle. The woman runs in screaming with a machete and attacks Parker and the gas can, dousing them both. Miri sets the woman on fire; that’s the end of her.
The police finally come in swarming; Miri sent a text to 911 with her computer.
Commentary
If we’re just going by the numbers, Parker probably killed more people by spreading COVID than the revenge-murder-family did with knives. On the other hand, Benji took the risk himself by not following distancing recommendations. Who are the real villains here, and where does responsibility fall?
It’s the standard “trapped in an isolated place with a killer” with a little bit of COVID-paranoia layered on top for spice. It’s from the same writer who did several of the “Scream” films, and it definitely has a similar vibe- the text messaging, the two killers, and it overall feels like more of the same. The only thing here is that we don’t have any “before time” to meet any suspects, so we know the killer is just some rando in a mask.
If you’re a big fan of the “Scream” series, then you’ll probably like this. I’m not, and I didn’t.