Another Hole in the Head Festival 2009

BLOOD RIVER is a savage psychological thriller about an apparently normal married couple taking a simple road trip on a remote desert highway in Nevada. She’s sweet, pretty, and pregnant and he’s just a typical guy who works in an office building. Along the way they pass a mysterious drifter wandering the road. At a glance, his piercing eyes, grizzly scowl, and black cowboy hat give the impression of pure evil, foreshadowing brutality on the path ahead. After a blowout and accident they are forced to walk in the hot desert sun, ultimately spending time at the ghost town of Blood River with the creepy drifter, who doesn’t help their comfort level with sinister quotes from scripture and dark references of redemption. As the men go off to get help, the movie takes a twist that can’t be anticipated, upping the adrenaline level and ultimately bringing the three to the point of no return. BLOOD RIVER is absolutely disturbing and ends with the unsettling dread of an unanswered question.--Mike Skurko