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An expecting couple heads home from their engagement party through the mountains, taking a short cut that takes them on an odd road that is seemingly never-ending.
Written by Jon Sarro and directed by Cody Ashford, Drive Back quickly reveals some of its plot and will remind many of the great holiday movie Dead End. The writing here is interesting but there are a few story holes here and there that were either filmed and cut out or were straight up forgotten in the script that those who pay attention to details will notice immediately. Beyond those, the writing is decent and the characters don’t do too many dumb thing (beyond the obvious taking of an unknown shortcut), the lines are decently written, and the story has a few surprises. The direction works decently well with this, giving the story shape and taking it in the right direction while adding suspense and guiding the cast pretty well.
The cast here is led by Whit Kunschik as Olivia and Zack Gold as Reid and they take on the majority of the film and its run time. The scenes are often just the two of them and when others are involved, they usually are present or it’s about their characters, so they are more than just the leads, they are the center of everything here. The two of them could make or break the film here and they thankfully make it. Their performances work, they make the characters human with the good and the bad of it all. Their performances are good and guide the entire film. The rest of the cast is decent, but pretty much none of them gets enough screen time to really make an impression beyond a quick one.
The film’s look is interesting even while they keep driving the same road for a long while. The cinematography by Lucas Pitassi is very pretty and quite eerie at times. It’s a bit part of what makes the film work here. The angles, the lingering images here and there, the way the camera zooms in at times, it all comes together in a pretty yet suspenseful way. Of course, this comes with an assist from editor Aaron Tharp. Working within these gents’ work are the special effects which look rather good here with a few moments of true gore that are *chef’s kiss*.
Drive Back is a simple yet effective suspense film with horror elements. It’s one that requires attention be paid to be enjoyed while this attention can backfire on it at times. A few mistakes here and there in the story are easy to bypass for this viewer but may be problems for others.