Wrecker (2015)
Staci Layne Wilson
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Starring Anna Hutchison, Andrea Whitburn,
Directed by Micheal Bafaro
PYT’s Emily (Anna Hutchison ) and Lesley (Andrea Whitburn) decide to get away from it all and go on a long road trip out to the desert. They’ve got coolers full of beer, joints rolled, and a red-hot muscle car all revved up. Of course, when the GPS stops working and Emily decides to get off the main highway to take a shortcut, the girls become the target of a relentless and obviously psychotic tow-truck driver who forces them to play a deadly game of cat and mice.
I’ll admit, I have a soft spot for road pursuit movies – from Duel to The Hitcher, Road Games, and of course Mad Max: Fury Road – there’s just something about them that puts me into high gear. So I was strapped in on this one pretty much from the get-go.
Deftly directed by Micheal Bafaro (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Evan Tylor), this twice-tread tale still manages to find a few hairpin turns in the suspense arena. The characters are thin, but the two lead actresses do an impressive job of breathing life into Emily and Lesley; having someone to bounce off of probably helped. Usually, it’s a single pursuer and a lone motorist going head-to-head, which offers its own dynamic – but in the case of Wrecker, we have two young ladies whose lives are at stake. And oh yes: Their magnificent Mustang gets banged up in the process. The tow-truck had to be its own character, since we never catch a glimpse of the driver – and it is a formidable-looking hulk indeed.
The IMDb page for Wrecker says it’s a remake of Steven Spielberg’s classic Duel, but since the screenplay does not credit Richard Matheson, then I think it’s safer to say it’s an homage. Or a rip-off, since many of the same scenes are used – the gas station, the diner, even the phone booth – but at least it’s a good rip-off. I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone else who loves a little road rage.
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Film
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