Bad Turn Worse (2014)

Thanks for the memories!

From my favorite movies..

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Bad Turn Worse is a crime thriller done without big budget, but still manages to entertain. It presents good script, murky atmosphere of rural town and fresh partially ironic take on crime drama. The movie is not without flaws though, the pacing might suffer at times and despite some good twist the characters fall into stereotypical teen early on.This is a story of three teenagers who live in Texas dusty town. One of them decides to steal from the mob, a poorly made decisions that drag all of them into gradually escalating situation. It's a bit slow to build-up on first act as the teens only exchange banters. The plot takes speed after a while, although it's still marred on a couple of scenes.The premise is seemingly simple, yet the script is smart and it delivers nice twists in timely manner . Acting is good for the three leads, they look juvenile, desperately determined and wanting promise of better life. The chemistry works by meshing these bored boorish characters together in much more adult condition than they are supposed to have.What set apart this movie from mediocrity is the occasional moments of fresh delivery amidst its bleak visual. Several of the scenes are interestingly done, a bit self-aware, surprisingly bloody and a very reminisces of classic pulp fiction.Having many genre familiarities, it can be a bit stereotypical and the display of boredom might be stagnant, but with its fine performance and good material, Bad Turn Worse is an engaging human and crime drama.

Three Texas teens hope to make a break for it and escape their dead-end existence in a cotton-mill town but get sucked into the seedy underbelly of organized crime when one of them steals from the wrong man.The general plot of this is pretty good, and fans of crime or heist movies will probably dig it. There is a really cool scene with the heist run-through that really makes the film for me, and if nothing else, solidified this as a better-than-average movie.What are we to make of the "32 ways to tell a story" theme? Is that a hint of how we should interpret this plot? It seems like yes, but exactly what we are to take away from it remains unclear. Perhaps a second viewing is in order?

I LOVE this movie. Saw it in Toronto at TIFF and then again at AFI Fest in LA, and both times was wowed by everything about this film. The tone, the setting, the characters, the acting, the music - it's a greasy, gritty, Texas neo-noir thriller that has impeccable style. Gotta say too that Mark Pellegrino plays one of the all-time great bad guys in this film - probably my favorite performance of his. And on top of it all, it's a perfect example of the power that indie filmmakers have, and should be an inspiration to others who want to make a film on very little money and a lot of heart. See this movie whenever you get the chance. I know I can't wait to own this one.

*****May Contain Spoilers***** The tale tells of a story that takes place in a small town in Texas where there isn't much to do except to figure out how to leave town or to get into some trouble, and that pretty much describes our three coming-of-age main characters. Sue & Bobby would like nothing better than to leave this town in favor of college, and BJ knows that college just isn't for him and manages instead to get into trouble with some of the wrong people. BJ steals money from a man named Giff and because of this Bobby, Sue, and BJ all end up all on the hook for it. Giff wants them to commit another crime in order to make up for this one, and if they don't come through they will have to answer to Giff's boss who's known simply as 'Big Red'.Well people these first time filmmakers brought to Toronto not only a well-crafted story, but a quality looking film as well. These brothers collaborated extremely well with director of photography Jeff Bierman, and together they expertly capture the look, feel, and texture of small town Texas. In "We Gotta Get Out of this Place" they show you these long, wide, and barren shots of literally nothing to do, and all of this adds to the main characters main problem of seclusion. Even in the film's beginning the absence of a musical score just compounds to the loneliness and solitude of this location. They all must have known exactly what kind of visual tale that they wanted to tell, and that's because the end result is very smooth for the viewer. Other complements go out to these two brothers for their very cool use of transitioning the film from one scene to the next, and they also made use of good lighting, shadows, and silhouettes throughout the movie.This now takes me onto the performances, which by the way are all above average. The three main players are all solid, but I will start with the film's villain and best performance in "We Gotta Get Out of this Place". The film's main antagonist is Giff, and he is brought to vivid life by the very talented Mark Pellegrino. He creates a scary southern low-life creep, but whenever he is on screen you can't help but give him your full attention. He's scary and funny all at the same time, and throughout the feature he has many priceless lines that he delivers with a perfect hint of "Deliverance". On the flip side Jeremy Allen White plays Bobby and is the film's central and lead character. He more than pulls off an innocence and charm that make him very easy to side with. He also gives us a sense of always wanting to do the right thing if the right thing is even a possibility considering their current situation, and put simply you can't help but really like the kid.The other two leads are BJ & Sue played by Logan Huffman & Mackenzie Davis. BJ is above average as the troublemaker of the three, and this young actor brings an edge to this person that makes you never fully like or accept him. He is very credible as an actor and shows a wide array of emotions in the character of BJ. Finally Sue is the girl of the love triangle, and is the driving force of what the other two guys will do going forward. However I can honestly say that she is so much more than a love interest, and provides the film with a sexy and solid passion that proves very effective. She continually strives to better herself and that is the motivation for the film's title "We Gotta Get Out of this Place".Now seeing so many films back-to-back day after day in Toronto…well sometimes you go into the theater not knowing what the movie is even about or who's in it. This fell into that category and was a welcomed and pleasant surprise of a crime thriller, and that genre is not easy to pull off. This film is like "Blood Simple" meets "Last Man Standing" meets "Twilight", and what could've been a real missed opportunity is anything but. With a fraction of a Hollywood budget and almost no known stars the Brothers Hawkins have done a fantastic job taking an already tight script, and turning it into an even tighter film.Okay just a few minor 'Nick-Picking' issues to touch base with. The first is why did they have to give us the standard "Twilight" love triangle because that has been done to death…no pun intended. Next there were more than a few times where convenience seemed to be the driving force of the script, but you'll have that I guess as well. Then there were 2 montages that I felt did nothing but add length to the feature, and at least one of them could've been cut in favor of more screen time for William Devane.At right around 1 hour and 45 minutes "We Gotta Get Out of this Place" was much better than average, and I would love to see this film get some recognition. I absolutely love when filmmakers manage to get a lot out of a little, and that is the definition of what we have here. A solid crime drama with rich and believable characters all wrapped up in a great looking film…well I don't know what else you could ask for? Nick's Reel Screen Review is a very highly recommended 3 ½ stars out of 4, and that's for the crime thriller "We Gotta Get Out of this Place".