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Branson Wright (Michael Paré) and his fading moviestar wife Sheryl
(Viveca A. Fox) arrive at Jerry Yarbrough's (Jon Briddell) winery/BnB for
their son Evan's (Tyler Parks) wedding to Yarbrough's daughter Mandy
(Makenna Elizabeth Timm) - but the wedding is under no good star from the
get-go, as Branson and Sheryl really don't get along with Jerry and his
new trophy wife Summer (Brande Roderick), don't even get along with each
other thanks to Branson's womanizing ways, also there are wildfires slowly
approaching the winery about which Deputy Windsome (Brian Borello) has
come to warn the party, and there's also a bridesmaid (Jessica Jade
Andres) secretly in love with Evan. And on top of that, the bride's
eventually found dead, poisoned. By that time, all roads to the winery are
blocked due to the wildfire, so it's up to the Deputy to conduct the
investigations - which isn't made any better when two tailor-made
suspects, the groundskeeper (Torrey B. Lawrennce) and the pastor (Julia
Ubrankovics), who have conspired to conduct a big grift during the
wedding, are found poisoned as well. Without the help of any forensics,
the Deputy has to rely on Tina (Nikki Leigh), the sommeliere with a
brilliant nose, to literally sniff out the killer. Thing is, she's in some
way involved with Evan as well ...
Twisted Vines is in the best meaning of the word
old-fashioned murder mystery, with the characters, cut off the outer
world, having to solve a murder using little more than just their wits
(and noses) - and fortunately, the script shows a deep understanding of
the genre, thus the film's set-up is somewhat plausible, the limited
locations are interesting, and most important of all a colourful cast of
well fleshed out characters keeps one entertained. The direction, too, is
light-footed enough to keep things flowing throughout, but never shies
away from moments of suspence either, while a solid cast featuring many a
great character actor truly carry the film, and ultimately this
"old-fashioned" whodunnit seems suprisingly fresh and is sure to
give you a good time.
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