By Geno McGahee
Donovan Miller (Todd Field), an author, sits at a barstool, and begins to tell a story to the stranger sitting beside him. The story involves money, murder and betrayal, and immediately captivates the man next to him.
Jared (Mackenzie Astin) stumbles over his friend, Austin’s (Todd Field) house, beaten and bloody, claiming that he killed somebody in self-defense. Austin and Jared’s other two friends, Violet (Natasha Gregson Wagner) and Emma (Dina Meyer), go to investigate and find a naked dead man on the floor. Jared’s secret is out. He’s gay and something terrible happened with a lover. The group reluctantly agrees to help him cover up the murder.
Unfortunately, things get very complicated. The dead man turns out to be a police officer and the cops are searching desperately for him. When they attempt to get rid of the body by putting it into the trunk, the car gets towed and now the tow truck guy, Bubba (Joe Unger) wants $100,000 dollars to keep quiet. When the dust settles, they now have two bodies in the trunk, the dead cop and the dead tow truck guy.
The elderly neighbor of Jared, Mrs. Steiner (Frances Bay), shows up and sees the foursome gathered and begins talking about what she saw the night of the death of the cop. Violet begins to think that she knows too much and plans to kill the old bird and now another death is on their hands.
I really enjoyed the performances of the actors in this, especially Natasha Gregson Wagner. Violet was a hilarious character. I loved when she was driving after the death of Mrs. Steiner. Her anger and yelling was incredibly amusing.
This movie reminded me of the 1994 film SHALLOW GRAVE with Ewan McGregor…a dark, thriller/comedy, with some twists and turns. I really enjoyed that movie and this one was just as good. I really liked this flick and I highly recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10.
