i tend to be a stickler about DVD covers being accurate depections of what the movie is about.... this one is only half-right.... the actress, Lori Heuring, is never in her underwear during the film.... there is no need to mark the days off on the wall as there is a clock in the room they're kept in that counts down the days.... and finally, there is no hacksaw in the film.... that being said, i really enjoyed this film regardless.... i'm always looking for a new horror film to watch.... and it's getting harder and harder these days since i've seen so damn many.... this one seemed to come along at just the right time and i'm sure glad that it did.... as a rule, the Fangoria Frightfest selections are not always of the best quality.... so i was hesitant about this film in the beginning.... but sometimes there's exceptions to the rule and this film is one of those exceptions.... this was a simple story about survival that was elevated to something else because of the deeper storyline and the commitment of the actors.... it had a bit of a problem regarding the villans history and i was also thrown off by the look of the villan.... i think they were trying to make him look as normal as possible so that it created more of a realistic feel to the film.... and by the end, i was buying into it myself.... but be prepared to be put off by it in the early parts of the film....
the story is about a man who was trapped in a car with his mom after an accident when he was a child.... he was in there so long that he was forced to begin eating her after she died.... when the rescue team finally found him, he was catatonic but alive.... many, many years later, the man kidnaps 5 strangers and puts them in a dugout underground with nothing but barrels of water to live off of.... no food whatsoever.... each of them is initially skeptical of each other, but over time they realize that they have to trust each other if they want to survive.... the lead actress plays a doctor and she advises that they can survive about 30 days without food, as long as they have water.... but it is not something that will end pleasantly and they have no idea what their captor has in store or if he'll ever give them any food.... what happens over the course of the rest of the film is basically the breakdown of a mini-society.... lines are drawn, sides are taken and things get out of hand.... it's an examination of the human condition in its rawest form.... 
this film, i guess, falls into the cannibalism genre.... but i don't want to sell it short by sticking it into a corner.... it's more of a survival horror.... it asks the question, "How far would you go to survive?".... and this also gives you an idea how a lack of food will affect you over a long period of time.... the desire for food goes way beyond your desire to have some, it goes deep into the hard-wiring of humanity.... we all have a breaking point where we'll do anything to get what our body craves.... from eating bugs, moss off the walls, dirt, anything that's edible.... but would you give up your humanity to eat another human being....? that's where this gets really interesting.... because you can actually see the psychological side-effects of going down the road to ruin.... it's like once you make that choice, you can never go back to who you were before.... and for some people, they don't want to go back.... it twists you into something dark and souless.... and i can imagine that the people who've actually had to experience this are probably scarred beyond saving.... i wouldn't think that a lifetime of therapy would fix the deep seated destruction of the mind.... as you can see, this film raises some interesting questions.... or at least it did for me.
i found this film to be a 4 out of 5 star journey.... something that i was surprised by and happy that i took the time to watch.... it's available to watch on DVD from Netflix, but not OnDemand.... it is worth the rental, trust me.... i've never seen or heard of any of the people involved in this film.... but i think that there is some great potential here for bigger things for all of them.... i've also changed my opinion on the Fangoria Frightfest selections.... i'll be a little less hesitant to avoid them from now on.... i will judge them based on the storyline and the reviews given.... i'm a big enough guy to admit my mistakes.... or maybe it's not me, maybe it's that Fangoria has set higher standards for what they put their name on.... either way, check it out.... and make sure you have a good meal before you watch this one.
if you like this, check out the Food Network afterwards.... it's the exact opposite of what you've seen in the film.
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