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January 19, 2012

Movie Review: Rage (2010)


Directed by Chris Witherspoon

Starring Rick Crawford, Audrey Walker and Chris Witherspoon

Dennis Twist (Rick Crawford) doesn't know it but he is about to have a really, really bad day. It starts off quiet enough, he is heading into town from his nice suburban home, telling his loving wife he has some errands to run. But his hidden agenda is soon revealed, as he meets the woman he is having an affair with in order to tell her that he loves his wife and wants to break off the relationship. On his way there, he snatches a parking spot from a seemingly random stranger on a mototcycle. When confronted he blows the guy off and goes on his way. Then while breaking the bad news to his mistress, she mentions her ex boyfriend who is fresh out of prison and just happens to ride a motorcycle.



With the relationship now broken off, Dennis heads for home, hoping to put the whole thing behind him. Unfortunately, while leaving the parking lot he encounters the stranger on the motorcycle again, and he isnt very happy. What transpired from this point forward is a game of cat and mouse between Dennis (in his PT Cruiser) and the helmeted motorcyclist (played by director Chris Witherspoon). As a seemingly mild case of road-rage escalates into a life and death struggle, Dennis becomes convinced his lovers ex is out to get him at any cost. And fearing his wife will find out about his infidelity if he goes to the police, he chooses to simply run from the menacing motorcyclist, hoping to lose him somewhere along the line on his way home.

Since I liked this movie and recommend you see it, I am not going to reveal too much of the details. It's a nicely done little indie thriller that towards the end completely jumps the tracks and becomes a full-blown horror movie, which I thought was a cool little touch. A pretty impressive little piece of work for Tim Witherspoon, who shows us what one motivated and talented guy can do with a handfull of money ($100,000 budget) and a little bit of imagination. The score was well done and helped to build tension in all the right places, as was the camera work, which included some black & white dream sequences which worked pretty well. And Rick Crawford does a great job of playing the lead role of Dennis Twist. As the movie begins you kind of feel sorry for the guy, he seems nice enough and appears to just be an average guy who realizes he's made a huge mistake by having an affair and is trying to do the right thing, but by the time we get to the end of the movie we realize he is nothing but a spineless little weasel who is getting his Karma in spades. And Witherspoon himself plays a pretty cool villain, as relentless as Michael Meyers.

As I stated earlier, the end of the movie does ramp up quite a bit, once the motorcyclist follows Dennis to his house, and I dont want to spoil it but you will be treated to a graphic rape scene and a double chainsaw murder (Woohoo!), and the obligatory plot-twist at the end. Its all nicely packaged and was pretty entertaining with the morale of the story as I saw it, being, Dont cheat on your wife and bad shit wont happen to you. Pop some popcorn, sit back and enjoy this cool little thrill ride.

I scored it 7 out of 10

Reviewed by KennyB

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