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Don't Look Back
Good Samaritan
USA 2020
produced by Ashleigh Snead, Roman Dent, Andy Steinman, Andrew van den Houten, Jeffrey Reddick (executive), Gagan Lakhmna (executive), Antonio Velasco (executive), Darryl F. Gariglio (executive), Giles Daoust (executive), Catherine Dumonceaux (executive), Han Soto (executive) for Hood River Entertainment, Storyteller Media, Title Media, Setlife Films
directed by Jeffrey Reddick
starring Kourtney Bell, Skyler Hart, Will Stout, Jaqueline Fleming, Damon Lipari, Amanda Grace Benitez, Han Soto, Stephen Twardokus, Dean J. West, Bryan Batt, Jeremy Holm, Orlando Eric Street, Katelyn Pearce, Dominic 'Taz' Alexander, K. Steele, Escalante Lundy, Ashton Leigh, Kelly Lind, Eric Stratemeier, Anthony Michael Frederick, Casey Ferrand, Eduardo Losan, Antonio Saez, Marcel Shihadeh, James Miller
written by Jeffrey Reddick, music by Christopher Thomas, songs written by Jammes Luckett, performed by Thrillharmonik, special effects by Spectrum Effects, E3 = FX Nola
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Only recently, Caitlin (Kourtney Bell) has lost her father (Orlando
Eric Street) in a home invasion where she, too, had died - but been
brought back to life just in time. Now, in broad daylight in a public
park, she sees a man, Douglas (Dean J. West), beaten to death and is so
horrified she freezes instead of helping. Thing is, none of the other
passers-by help the man either, and one, Nathan (Stephen Twardokus) even
films the crime on his cellphone. Eventually, Caitlin and the other
witnesses meet Douglas's brother, Lucas (Will Stout), who's beyond enraged
that none of them helped his brother, and eventually makes all their names
public to shame them. A short time later, Nathan falls from his apartment
window to his death right in front of Caitlin, something the police rules
a suicide, but Caitlin's sure it was murder. Since the police doesn't
believe her, she starts investigating on her own, much to her boyfriend
Josh's (Skyler Hart), something that doesn't bear well on her though, as
she starts having visions of Douglas accusing her. However, she eventually
finds assistance from an unexpected source, Lucas, who says he sees
Douglas as well and insists he hasn't left out plane yet. Eventually,
Caitlin meets up with another witness, Curt (Damon Lipari), but he's
killed a short time after their meeting - and then Douglas's killer is
found dead from an overdose, which should be the end of everything,
assuming that it was him who has killed the others to eliminate witnesses.
Only Caitlin is less than convinced, and a short time later she finds yet
another witness (Jaqueline Fleming) killed, and what makes this especially
delicate is that the investigating detective on the case (Jeremy Holm)
starts suspecting her to be the culprit. And Caitlin doesn't know anything
anymore, and she starts suspecting everyone, from said cop to Josh even -
which is when she's knocked out and brought to a basement by whoever-it-is
... Don't Look Back is a very tight thriller, that
despite being a bit long-winded and in fact far-fetched (intentionally so,
as it will turn out) in its chain of evidence is just tight from beginning
to end, carried by a rather compelling central performance by Kourtney
Bell, with all the suspense and jump scares, macabre elements and red
herrings in all the right places to flow in a way that has one on the edge
of one's seat pretty much throughout. And really, the resolution that only
comes after the grand finale with its own catharsis, is almost a stroke of
genius and sure packs a punch in its own right.
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