- Director: Colin Minihan
- Writer: Colin Minihan
- Stars: Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen, Martha MacIsaac
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 38 Minutes
IMDB’s description says, “Majestic mountains, a still lake, and venomous betrayals engulf a female married couple attempting to celebrate their one-year anniversary.”
If that sounds intriguing, go watch it. It’s better to see this one unspoiled. If not, then… spoilers ahead.
Synopsis
Jackie and Jules are staying in a rustic cabin for their anniversary; they’ve been married for one year, and this cabin belongs to Jackie’s family. Jackie mentions her insulin in the very first scene; already, I bet that’s gonna come back as a problem later– not so subtle. That night, Jackie sings a song about blood and demons and tearing out your eyes, which unsurprisingly creeps out Jules. Instead, they have sex.
Someone else drives up. It’s Sarah, an old friend of Jackie’s who lives nearby and hasn’t been around in years. Sarah calls Jackie “Megan” which is news to Jules. The next day, out for a run, Jules finds a small boat on the shore. Jackie explains that “Megan” was a name she never really liked and changed it long ago, but Jules still isn’t happy to learn about the secret. Afterwards, the pair go target shooting. Jackie tells a story about killing a black bear when she was younger, and explains “You only kill what keeps you alive.”
Jackie goes grocery shopping, so Jules rows her boat over there. It’s Sarah’s house, where Jules meets Daniel, Sarah’s husband. Sarah explains about Jenny, a friend of theirs who died when they were young. Jackie had never mentioned her to Jules. Jackie isn’t happy to find out Jules had that conversation without her. Jackie and Jenny were swimming across the lake, and Jenny disappeared. They found her body two days later. Jackie pushes Jules off a cliff right after telling the story. On the way back to the cabin, she rehearses for calling 911.
Naturally, when she goes back to the scene, Jules’s body is gone. We see a flashback that shows Jules staggering off with a concussion as she hears Jackie calling for her. Jules hides. All night this goes on. The next day, Jackie gears up for a more serious hunt. It’s clear that this was no spur-of-the-moment push over the cliff.
While Jackie’s out hunting, Jules returns to the house and does some first-aid on herself. Jules and Jackie start rowing across the lake in separate boats, but Jules only has one arm that really works. Jackie catches her and makes her go back to the house. Jackie explains that this is all about Jules’ insurance policy, and that Jackie has been grooming her for the entire past year.
Sarah and Daniel are coming over for dinner, so the two have to pretend to be getting along, since Jackie threatened to kill Sarah and Daniel if Jules doesn’t play along. Jackie explains about Erica, her first wife, whom she also killed. Daniel confesses that Sarah thinks Jackie is a psychopath, something he probably shouldn’t have told her. Meanwhile, Jules tells Sarah everything. Jackie cuts Daniel’s throat right there. Like the silly-girls-in-a-horror-film that they are, the girls run away screaming. Jackie catches up and stabs Sarah repeatedly.
Jules just sits there in shock and watches as Jackie cuts up the bodies with an ax. Then Jules has to clean up the blood. Later, Jules unties herself, steals Jackie’s knife, and– oh wait, that’ just a dream sequence. She doesn’t get away at all. Instead, she searches the room full of guns and heavy things and instead finds a box of lockets that belonged to Jackies former wives, about a dozen of them.
Jules eventually sticks Jackie with a tranquilizer dart and runs off into the woods. She runs straight to the cliff she was supposed to have fallen to her death from. Jackie passes out right before she can do anything. Jules finally has the upper hand. Does she stab her or throw Jackie off the cliff? No. She does take the car and drive away. She has a change of heart though, and goes back to finish the job. Of course, Jackie is gone by that time.
Jules notices that the gun (which had been there all along) is hanging right there on the wall, so she takes it down. She plays her Silverchair music and switches to “badass mode.” See? All it took was the right background music! She cranks up the music so Jackie, out in the woods, will hear it.
Jackie eventually comes in that night, apparently fully recovered from the tranquilizer. Jules gets the drop on her with the gun. Jackie gives the “you’re not a killer speech” and then tackles Jules and runs away. They fight upstairs, offscreen. Apparently jackie wins this offscreen battle, as we soon see her dragging Jules’ body back to the cliff and rolling her back off it to her death for real this time.
Jackie goes back home, calls 911, and starts feeling woozy. She goes and gets her insulin, and we get a flashback that shows Jules knew all about medical stuff. There’s a video on Jackie’s computer of Jules explaining that she replaced Jackie’s insulin with Peroxide, which will soon kill her.
Delirious, Jackie goes back into the woods and has a stroke. In the final scene, we hear Jules take a breath; she’s not completely dead.
Commentary
There are lots of logical problems in the story, not to even mention has someone could have collected insurance money on that many dead wives without being caught. And then, that tiny amount of peroxide injected subcutaneously, probably wouldn’t be that harmful.
It all looks good and was a complete surprise when Jackie turned on Jules. I really did not see that coming– at least not that early in the film.
That said, Jules had dozens of opportunities to counterattack and hit Jackie with something. There’s furniture and heavy things all through the house that she could have used as a weapon. Later on, there’s the scene with the crow that was so vague we literally paused the film to discuss what just happened.
I was entertained throughout, mostly due to the first big surprise that carried over for a while. I’d say as long as you go into it not knowing that twist, then it’s pretty entertaining. Other than that first big shock, there’s not too much new here.