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Stash
USA 2009
produced by David Workman, Sven Granlund, Matthew Perry (II), Billy W. Blackwell (executive), Denise Blackwell, (executive) for TuckyWood Productions, Can Too Entertainment
directed by Jacob Ennis
starring Karen Boles, Nathan Day, Stacey T. Gillespie, Kevin Taylor, Billy W. Blackwell, Chris Begley, Deborah Tucker, Belinda Cooke, David Workman, Tom M. Niehaus, Debbie Rochon, Leslie Rogers, Matthew Perry (II), Elysee, Tiffany Taylor, Naomi St. Claire, Robert Walker, David Gooslin, Jessica Hodnett, Zak C. Blackwell, Kaz M. Blackwell, Jill Denny, Wes Vance, Aaron T. Frye, Jacob Ennis, Gregory W. Brock, Blake Judd
written by Jacob Ennis, music by Toshiyuki Hiraoka, theme music by Mark Schoenrock, special makeup effects by Cineline Productions
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Sarah's (Karen Boles) car breaks down and she accepts a ride from two
strangers, Stan (Stacey T.Gillespie) and CJ (Nathan Day) ... which turns
out to be a bad idea, because Stan and CJ have the habit of capturing
pretty girls like her to deliver them to their friend Bud (Kevin Taylor),
who keeps girls in his basement to torture, rape and eventually kill them
... That all said, it's not exactly Stan and CJ's choice to supply Bud
with young and prettty girls, they are just two dopeheads who once tried
to steal Bud's stash - Bud's a marihuana planter - and were forced at
gunpoint to do his bidding. Especially Stan wants out of the deal, but
there's no way he can, just like he can't escape his trailer trash living
conditions ... Sarah though comes from a good middle class family, and
her dad (Chris Begley) is an ex cop who still has the best connections to
chief of police Ron (Billy W.Blackwell) - which means the search for Sarah
is fast-tracked, while the search for one of Bud's other victims, Jenny
(Elysee), was endlessly delayed, much to the dismay of her alcoholic
mother (Debbie Rochon) ... so much so that Bud eventually kills Jenny. Despite
all of the police's efforts, it's only coincidence that brings in the
decisive clue: Stan and CJ are arrested for marihuana possession - they
were caught smoking a joint in their car -, and when questioned by the
cops after incriminating evidence was found with them, Stan breaks down
and directs the police to Bud's house. Bud and the cops are soon caught
in a stalemate when he uses Sarah as his hostage and threatens to kill her
if his demands are not met - however, he soon realizes there is no way to
get out of the situation one way or another, hostage or not, so he slits
Sarah's throat as his final evil deed before allowing Sarah's dad to empty
his gun into his stomach. Bud dies of course, but Sarah survives only just
... A very well-made and interesting film that might start out
like just another piece of survival horror or torture porn, but soon veers
off into a totally different direction, mixing elements of police
procedural and social drama. What makes this film so worthwhile though is
that it refuses to follow genre formulas: So the film might qualify as
survival horror, but that aspect soon takes backseat, it might work as a
police procedural, but only to the point where the two dopeheads are
arrested completely by accident, and for your typical social drama, it's
just too entertaining. To prove my point, the baddie in this film is for
a change not portrayed as your almost superhuman genius but a rather
simplistic dopehead who has gotten away with so much just because he lives
far enough away from civilisation, and he has the bad judgement to let two
hopeless dopeheads do his dirty work who are not even able to secretly
smoke a joint. On the other hand of the scope though, the police don't
jump into action for just about everybody, as long as the middle class
keeps up the status quo, who cares about the white trash? This all might
sound a little boring in writing, but Stash is no message movie or
anything, but great genre entertainment. Recommended!
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