Rust Creek finds us in the company of Sawyer (Hermione Corfield), a college senior from Kentucky headed to Washington, D.C. during the week of Thanksgiving for a job interview. Seeking a route around highway traffic, Sawyer follows her phone’s GPS on the scenic route through backwoods but eventually becomes lost on her journey. Unbeknownst to our protagonist, while trying to find her way she stumbles upon a pair of meth dealers burying the body of a rival. The pair encounters Sawyer while she is perusing a map and attempt to kill her after posing as concerned locals eager to help. Wounded and running for her life, Sawyer ends up stranded deep in the forest when she is found by a mysterious man living in the woods who patches her wounds and hides her in his trailer. She is left to trust the man’s instincts and assurances that his plan will keep her safe and able to return to her family, while trying to avoid her pursuers.
Micah Hauptman provides Rust Creek with its best performance, playing the detestable Hollister with both sickening evil and enthralling intensity. Hauptman’s every appearance onscreen brings with it a sense of tension and unpredictability while also engendering endless amounts of dislike, all the signs of an accomplished, effective villain. Hermione Corfield takes on the role of Sawyer and does a pretty good job, at once making frustrating mistakes to be expected of a young woman thrust into an impossible situation, but also displaying resiliency and strength that serve her throughout the movie and make her a decently compelling female protagonist.
Rust Creek is a thriller that is pretty well paced and spaces out its reveals and twists evenly throughout the film, doing a good job of keeping the viewer attentive during the nearly two-hour run time. Despite this, the film’s plot feels a little too familiar and like stories that we have already seen before, without much innovation or any new spin involved. The performances are serviceable and not at all terrible, but outside of Micah Hauptman, they’re not notable enough to make up for the blandness of the story at the center of the film. Director Jen McGowan provides some pretty good scenic shots along with director of photography Michelle Lawler, but aside from her work with the actors, she alone cannot atone for the ho-him script and story. If you’re at home and having a movie marathon night, Rust Creek may be worth a watch but any effort extended past this circumstance may not be worth your trouble.
Image: IFC Films
