ian_bell As the snow gets deeper and the night draws in, local outcast Floyd finds a stranded motorist on the edge of town. Taking the man home to his dilapidated house-cum-farm, Floyd offers the unconscious traveller to his teenage daughter Dolores.The relief which the waking motorist Stephen feels at being rescued, is quickly replaced by one of growing discomfort and then fear as he realises he is at the mercy of an unbalanced and indeed psychotic man. Starting as it means to go on, the film turns the screw ever tighter on Stephen.The most fascinating aspect of the film however is not the plight of Stephen, but the peculiar and even bizarre relationship between Floyd and his daughter.After watching the film I did begin to wonder Is Dolores really Floyd's daughter at all? By taking stranded stranger Stephen back to his house, the suggestion is Floyd is a decent soul. But by then remarking casually to his daughter that, if she doesn't like him, they can 'feed him to the dogs' it is clear Floyd has lost almost any empathy with the outside world.Dolores, by contrast, is an engaging and attractive girl. Touchingly played by Margaret Langrick, the girl is both excited by the arrival of Stephen, and intrigued by the glimpse of the outer world he offers, a life of hotels, restaurants, women and work.As the two form a tentative bond, provoking the first stirrings of dangerous jealousy in Floyd, it grows increasingly clear Dolores will try any trick she can to engineer herself away from the rundown house and the isolated existence she lives with her father.This brings me back to my original question: Is the girl really Floyd's daughter or the victim of an abduction? I did wonder whether Dolores may have arrived at the house in similar circumstances to Stephen; perhaps clutched as a baby from a tourist's car, or snatched from an unsuspecting mother.The stark backdrop of the icy wilderness and a haunting score, add to the growing unease which director Vac Sarin creates from the opening moments. Few films have ever managed to convey in such compelling fashion the need for human contact.As threatening and deranged as Floyd is, he is also deeply lonely and lacking in both physical good looks and social graces. He holes himself up in a house miles from anywhere presumably because it is (i) cheap, and (ii) the one place where no-one judges him.Yet above that loneliness and insecurity simmers a psychotic temper, and a raging jealousy which is determined to keep Dolores by his side and stop Stephen at any cost from reaching outside help.You want Stephen to escape what quickly becomes a nightmare, and even more for Dolores to somehow find a happy place in life, yet over them both towers the increasingly unstable Floyd.Adapted by Richard Beattie from the play by James Garrard, the film maintains its tension right to the final moments. A claustrophobic and unsettling psycho-thriller, with winning performances, and an ending of haunting and poetic poignancy.

fedor8 Don't believe any of the other reviews posted here, which are - for some unfathomable reason - all full of praise for this major piece of Dreck.Another one of those imbecilic films in which an innocent passer-by is kept imprisoned in a house somewhere in the middle of nowhere. This is one of the worst sub-sub-genres of them all. It's bad enough to watch a dumb thriller, but when it's this kind it really doesn't get any worse. This brick-hard bundle of nonsense may be one of the five worst films I've ever seen, and I've seen several thousand - unlike some IMDb reviewers out there who get excited about just about anything. The characterization is straight out of the "Guide For Making Bad Z-Movies". The plot is totally predictable, the motivations of the characters muddled - or most likely non-existent - and there is some rather inept acting. The award-winningly absurd premise includes an 18 year-old girl who never met anyone apart from her fat father and his chained dogs, yet seems cheerful and well-adjusted enough (all things considering). Duh! This kind of plot has been done badly before but this dumbfest redefines how much worse an already idiotic premise can be made if one tries hard enough. Clearly, the effort has been made in that direction, in this case. It isn't hard to "top" this junk - it is practically impossible.

LordDwia What can i say... this movie is done very well. The acting is superb, the characters are eerily believable, and the situation is thought provoking and imaginative. This movie goes places we don't like to think about. It does a better job of portraying despair and isolation than any movie i've ever seen.It will leave you feeling cold, but Hopeful.Incredible!

amatia Set in Manitoba, a traveling salesman is rescued from a blizzard by the local crazy man, and taken to his house as a present for his daughter for her 18th birthday. Margaret Langrick gives a stunning performance as an 18 year old girl who wants to get away but her father is too domineering and keeps her too far away from other people. Maury Chaykin is totally convincing as the crazy father, by far one of the better "crazy-man" performances I've seen in any movie. Paul Gross is not-quite-innocent as Stephen. The plot becomes very disturbing once you see how nuts the father is. Slight overtones of Stephen King's "Misery" with the foot injury caused by a trap that Floyd sets so Stephen can't run away, and the scenes with Stephen chained to the wall are very effective. All in all, an amazing movie that gives you the shivers, and a sliver of hope