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The Surprise Visit
USA 2021
produced by Serah Henesey, Nick Lyon, Nathan Cowles (executive) for Hoodoo Productions
directed by Nick Lyon
starring Rob Riordan, Jacqi Vene, Eric Roberts, Serah Henesey, Johnny Santiago, Tricia Hawn, Regan Ferrier
story by Serah Henesey, Nathan Cowles, screenplay by Stephen Meier, music by Chris Ridenhour, additional music by Chris Cano, Eliza Swenson
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Annabelle (Jacqi Vene) tells her boyfriend Casey (Rob Riordan) she's
pregnant - and he couldn't be happier, and promises to be the best father
ever. There are several problems with that though, most of them having to
do that Casey and Annabelle are totally broke and live in a beat-up
trailer, and are both meth users. She's willing and able to kick the
habit, and he promises to stop using as well, and
he's probably even honest about wanting to straighten out, but old habits
die hard. But he goes to his father (Eric Roberts) to ask for money, and
maybe even a job, but he has messed up one too many times, so dad tells
him off until he's clean. Now Casey's dad works for Mrs. Dixon, the
richest woman in the area, as a gardener, and Casey can't help but to
overhear a conversation where she tells his dad that she's out of town for
the weekend. So Casey figures for some immediate financial relief, why not
break into her supposedly abandoned mansion the next night, to steal some
of her jewelry, and if he and Annabelle pull it off subtly enough and
aren't too greedy, there's a chance Mrs. Dixon won't even notice so
it'd be a victimless crime. Annabelle is not too sure about this, but
comes along as she sees the necessity of getting money soon. Thing is,
they're not professional thieves and have no idea where to look for the
jewelry, so it takes them to find the loot (which eventually turns out to
be costume jewelry anyways) - plus they eventually have to notice they're
not alone in the house. What they didn't know was that Mrs. Dixon's
daughter Juliette (Serah Henesey) and her husband Daniel (Johnny Santiago)
have come over for a surprise visit - and were more than surprised to find
her out for the weekend, but Casey's dad was only happy to let them stay
in the house anyhow. And now Daniel catches Casey and Annabelle
red-handed, and out of pure reflex Casey hits Daniel over the head with a
fire iron, effectively killing him. He's visibly shocked but not as
shocked as Juliette, who becomes an immediate problem, not only because
she's a witness but also because she has recognized Casey, remembering him
from when he was a little boy. But it's not as easy to kill someone with
intent as it is to kill someone in affect. Plus, Annabelle is less than
sure about killing Juliette, so Juliette works on her, persuading her to
let her go. So the situation between Casey and Juliette soon becomes a
game of cat and mouse in the woods surrounding the mansion - but it's not
always clear who's the cat and who's the mouse ... Sure, the
premise of The Surprise Visit doesn't promise much originality -
and yet the outcome is a very tense thriller, with suspense, action and
violence in all the right places, but at the same time the story is
character-based, and all the main characters are afforded at least some
kind of relatability. Of course, much of this is thanks to a well-balanced
and -structured script that even allows for quite a few surprise twists, a
very swift directorial effort, steady pacing that never lets up, and a
very fine small ensemble cast. And the result of this is a very nice piece
of thriller cinema.
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