Following the loss of their son, James (Ryan Bruce), retired sheriff George Blackledge (Kevin Costner) and his wife Margaret (Diane Lane) leave their Montana ranch to rescue their daughter-in-law, Lorna (Kayli Carter), who,after James' death remarried Donnie Weboy (Will Brittain) and their grandson Jimmy from the clutches of a dangerous, psychotic family living off the grid in the Dakotas, headed by matriarch Blanche Weboy (Lesley Manville). When they discover the Weboys' have no intention of letting the child go, George and Margaret are left with no choice but to fight for their family.
Others to round out the cast are Booboo Stewart as Peter Dragswolf, Jeffrey Donovan as Bill Weboy, Adam Stafford as Marvin Weboy, Bradley Stryker as Sheriff Nevelson, Connor Mackay as Elton Weboy and Greg Lawson as Gladstone Sheriff.
This was intensely and grittily directed by Thomas Bezucha ("Big Eden" 2000, "The Family Stone" '05, "Monte Carlo" '11). He certainly has gone out of his comfort zone with this. In fact, he doesn't actually gravitate toward any certain genre which, I believe, is healthy. It takes a talented filmmaker to be willing to take on many different genres and do it with relative ease. The 'quiet' intensity with many scenes in this film were eerily creepy which again adds to the suspense much more than outright explosiveness. Don't get me wrong, there is explosiveness, but not until the eeriness has grown slowly. It was also equally delineated tightly by writer Bezucha ("Big Eden" 2000, "The Family Stone" '05, "Monte Carlo" '11, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie" '18), based on the novel by Larry Watson. Because this story builds slowly to ensure the eerie suspense, at first it seems like the story is too slow. However, as it unfolds, it is crystal clear that this dangerous family are just as psychotic as George and Margaret had feared. The script was tight, cohesive and followed evenly. It will be interesting to see how Bezucha handles his next screenplay, "The Good House" which is in post-production at this point.
If suspense thrillers are your forte, this nail-biter is something you can sink your teeth into. I was shaking inside by the sheer eeriness of it, mostly because there are people out there like the Weboys' psychosis. This makes it much scarier than something like "Halloween" or "Friday the 13th" or the like which obviously are not based in anything real. This kept me riveted!
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: R 113mins.
