Nina (Karyna Kudzina) has only recently fled her homecountry Belarus for political reasons with her daughter Isabella (Isabella Bezell) and now finds herself in the US, an undocumented immigrant with little options to get ahead in life and at a loss how to care for her daughter. So she accepts an offer from Mary's (Lorianna Izrailova) organisation that hooks her up with a caretaker job at Luther's (Chris LaPlanta) house deep deep in the woods. Now sure, Luther's a bit eccentric, some of his views, especially on all things deer hunting, are a bit archaic, but then again, the job pays well enough, Luther might be weird but also seems perfects harmless and nice, and he and Isabella take an almost instant liking to one another. Then a stranger appears, Andres (Monte Bezell), an immigrant from Colombia whose car has broken down nearby. And while Luther first almost beats his head in, he soon enough rethinks and tries to be the perfect host - which is very much ok with Nina, as she and Andres have taken an almost instant liking to one another. And soon enough, Luther's even inviting a few neighbours over to host a party in Nina and Andres' honour. Only then Andres suddenly disappears, and when he turns up again perfectly sliced up as dinner - all with the full approval of all the party guests - Nina notices something's definitely not alright in Luther's house and the local community as such ...

A very nice shocker that blends traditional folk horror with the very current theme of the plight of undocumented immigrants, and spins a very original yarn out of it, one that's on the intentionally slowburn side at first and relies more on atmosphere and mystery, to eventually turn into a suspense piece before going all-out on action in the finale. But what holds this film together, besides its engaging story, are the very relatalbe performances of both Karyna Kudzina and Chris LaPlanta in the leads, who have just the right chemistry for this kind of plot as well. And all of this together makes for pretty cool and also pretty intelligent, even nuanced genre entertainment.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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