Movie Review: Wrecker (2015)

The movie stars Anna Hutchison, Andrea Whitburn, Jennifer Koenig, Michael Dickson and Don Knodel.

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked out this movie last night, other than I figured it would be a B-rated version of "Joy Ride." The movie, admittedly, exceeded my expectations a bit and, at very least, it didn't turn out to be a soft core porn. However, after watching it, I can also honestly say it wasn't a surprise diamond in the rough.

The basic plot of this movie is actually OK. As it turns out, I was wrong about it being a "Joy Ride" rip off. There were some basic concepts that were similar. But, the movie did turn out to be unique from the more-famous film. I especially like how the movie never really reveals the tow truck driver's motivation for stalking the friends and potentially killing others. This did add a little bit of mystery to the suspense.

My problem with this movie is it never really fully capitalizes on what could have been an easy-to-pull-off thriller. The opening scene, which basically consists of Emily (Hutchinson) and Leslie (Whitburn) driving past the same road sign on multiple occasions with the camera repeatedly pointed to the speedometer to remind us they were driving really fast, seemed to drag on forever. Plus, there really wasn't anything about this movie that wasn't predictable, ranging from their first encounter with the tow truck driver to the very end of the film.

On top of it, this is one of those movies that really relies heavily on the main characters being extra stupid. Several times, they had an opportunity to gain the upper hand or do something really smart, such as driving in the opposite direction of the truck, and fail to do so.

For example, there's one scene in this movie that offered a variety of choices for Emily. She could have attempted to shoot the stalker tow truck driver (or use the gun to disable his truck). She could have jumped into a waiting police vehicle and driven off while using the radio to call for help or she could have simply driven away in her own car while he was distracted. Instead, she chose to sit in the middle of the road, doing nothing, while he got out of his truck and hooked up the police vehicle before driving away.

Of course, to be honest with you, there were times when I really wondered if maybe the women deserved everything bad that was happening to them. After all, they were the ones that started it in the first place and continued to push despite every opportunity to walk away.

Heck for all we know, the tow truck driver was probably a local, church-going guy who was pushed too far by a couple rowdy tourists on a road trip. In fact, I think an angle like that might have made this movie much better.

Again, this movie had a good concept that I think could have resulted in a pretty decent thriller. However, poor execution ruined a great opportunity.

My Grade: D