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There is something bleakly sinister about a serial killer thriller that begins with said killer “saving” a woman from suicide so that he can kill her himself. Such is the perverse opening sequence of Don’t Move, directors Brian Netto and Adam Schindler’s nasty little genre piece which is blowing up on Netflix just in time for Halloween.
Set in a gorgeous stretch of remote backwoods, Don’t Move is all about the cat and mouse moves between “Richard” (Finn Wittrock), the cat, and Iris (Kelsey Asbille), the mouse. In fact, Iris is a grieving mother who lost a child under tragic circumstances in this very wilderness some months back, and “Richard” is just one of many nom de plumes assumed by a serial killer who after talking Iris down from a literal ledge, injects her with a paralytic agent. The taught 80 or so minutes that follow is about a woman who quickly loses motor functions of her body. Can she stay away, or hidden, long enough to avoid becoming another one of Richard’s disappearances?
Much of the enjoyment in Don’t Move stems from the performances, as well as how the characters navigate an idyllic but unforgiving landscape. Near misses in white water rapids, tranquil lakes, and rustic gas stations make for a gnarly backdrop to some base genre thrills. And if you enjoyed those, you ought to love some of these…
Deliverance
Perhaps the ultimate “nature excursion gone awry,” Deliverance remains director John Boorman’s best movie and the 1970s staple that made Burt Reynolds one of the biggest, hyper-masculine movie stars of his generation. Albeit, Burt was just part of a larger ensemble in this one, the seeming alpha among a group of former school day chums that also includes Jon Voight, Ronny Cox, and poor Ned Beatty. Now in their 30s, and most with families and kids, the quartet have come to the backwoods of Appalachia to tame the mighty Cahulawassee River on a canoe trip.
Yet what starts as an adventure about bros wanting to put off the nearing creep of middle age turns into a life and death struggle when they run into some lonely, and horny, good ol’ boys who want to have a good ol’ time with the city slickers. Trigger warnings should be advised, but so should signposts of genuine tension as the rapids these four approach become the least scary thing on the trip.
Available to Rent on: Amazon
The River Wild
A slightly more recent whitewater thrill ride, Curtis Hanson’s fairly underrated The River Wild features an exhilarating tete-a-tete between no less than Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. The former is a mother and wife in a crumbling marriage, her other half being the increasingly distant and nerdy Tom (David Strathairn). In an attempt to salvage their family life, or give it one last hurrah, the pair are taking their young son (Jurassic Park’s Joseph Mazzello) on a camping trip along the river that Streep’s Gail grew up navigating in her girlhood.
She’s about to have to do so again too, now with life and death stakes after two killers on the run (Bacon and a pre-comedy makeover John C. Reilly) commandeer Gail’s family trip at gunpoint, demanding Gail guide them all through the most dangerous rapids and into freedom. It’s a classic ‘90s star vehicle setup for suspense, violence, and visceral spectacle in the great outdoors.
Available to Rent on: Amazon
The Descent
Certainly more heightened than many of the movies on this list, and scarier than them too, is Neil Marshall’s 2005 cult classic, The Descent. A landmark in feminist horror, the film focuses on six friends whose connection hangs by a thread while a cloud of unspoken sins and betrayals dangles above them all. Yet the group is trying to make amends by going on an adventurous spelunking trip in the least explored caves of Appalachia.
What they discover down there, however, is truly unspeakable as mutated and feral human begins who’ve subsisted on raw meat in the dark for generations come out of the woodwork for the girls. It’s all a setup for a visceral chiller in which strong performances by Shauna Macdonald and particularly Natalie Mendoza anchor a story about feminine friendships in the most grueling of trials. Just make sure you watch the original/European version without the Hollywood reshoots.
Available to Stream on: Fubio; Available to Rent on: Amazon
Hush
While certainly less rustic than the previous three movies mentioned on this list, Mike Flanagan’s Hush is still technically set in the middle of the wilderness and likely offers more of the “serial killer vs. potential victim” thrills you enjoyed in Don’t Move. In this movie, which predates Flanagan’s popular Netflix horror anthology shows like The House of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher, frequent muse Kate Siegel plays Maddie, a deaf woman living by herself in a cabin in the woods. She also becomes a fixation for a masked killer (at least initially) played by John Gallagher Jr.
What Gallagher’s “The Man” wants from Maddie, other than her eventual life, is not immediately clear. But the games he plays with a woman who cannot hear the heaviness of his step, or the sneer of his asides, turn out to be a lot more even than he might expect…
Available to Stream on: Shudder; Available to Rent on: Amazon
Red Eye
Also among the the “who is the hunter and who is the prey” subgenre is this somewhat forgotten but crackling throwback to Hitchcock. Directed by horror favorite Wes Craven, Red Eye is much more restrained and classical than you might expect from the director of Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Also for most of its running time, it is a two-hander between Rachel McAdams and future J. Robert Oppenheimer star, Cillian Murphy.
McAdams plays Lisa, a woman who is having a rough day before she discovers her red eye flight home has been delayed. But as fate would have it, the delay provides a seeming chance encounter with a charming stranger named Jackson (Murphy). The pair at first share a flirty attraction that might suggest this film could head in an entirely different, romantic direction. But once the two find themselves seated next to each other in coach and in the air, the banter drops, and Jackson reveals he is a self-described domestic terrorist who needs something from Lisa… or her father will die before they make touchdown. Like Don’t Move, what feels like one type of movie becomes something entirely different at the drop of a hat. And the actors are rewarded for it.
Available to Stream on: Fubio; Available to Rent on: Amazon
Prey
Given how this veers straight into science fiction, we put it near the bottom of the list. Nonetheless, for a recent adrenaline kick set in the natural world, you can do little better than Prey, the Predator prequel that is way better than it has any right to be. Written and directed by Dan Trachtenberg and set in the 18th century, the film follows an underestimated Comanche woman (Amber Midthunder) as her attempts to break through her tribal peoples’ patriarchal customs becomes much more fateful after they realize they’re being hunted by a beast from another world.
Prey is easily the first good Predator movie in 40 years and a scenic delight, even when it’s just Midthunder’s Naru and her dog navigating the North American wilderness.
Available to Stream on: Hulu
The Edge
There are no serial killers in this, nor domestic terrorists, and nary even an alien. However, The Edge does feature one of the scariest things on the planet: a pissed off and hungry Kodiak Bear. And that furry dude has a bloodlust for Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, two romantic rivals who must band together after their plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, leaving them as sitting ducks for a bear who wants to be well stuffed before winter.
Look, it’s not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it has more pretty scenery and a scene of Anthony Hopkins attempting to outrun a bear. Grr.
Available to Stream on: Max
The post Movies to Watch After Don’t Move appeared first on Den of Geek.
