Movie Review:Drifter (2016)

Synopsis: A pair of outlaw brothers (one of them seriously wounded) seek refuge in a desert ghost town and are attacked by a family of cannibals.

Who's In It? The movie stars Aria Emory, Drew Harwood, Monique Rosario, Anthony Ficco and Rebecca Fraiser.


Review: After spending Father's Day attending a car show and having dinner at my parents' house, my wife and I pretty much just wanted to crash on the couch this evening. I decided to look for a movie for us to watch and, since it had been a while since we watched a movie with cannibals, I ended up picking this movie out.

Since it was a film I had never heard of, I wasn't really sure what to expect from it. And, to be honest, when I realized I didn't recognize any of the actors in the film, I didn't set my expectations too high. As it turns out, the film failed to meet even those lowered expectations.

To be fair, the part with the cannibal family actually isn't too terrible. They always seem to have the upper hand with the two brothers (Emory and Hardwood) and, given the remote desert location, their situation did seem hopeless, especially after their car (the only working vehicle) is destroyed.

I also thought the movie did a good job keeping the blood and gore to a reasonable level. Given the nature of the film, there was a need for some violence/blood/gore. But, the filmmakers seemed to keep it under control just enough to avoid it being ridiculous/unbelievable.

My biggest problem with this movie is I couldn't help but feel there was some sort of major plot point I was missing. Not only did I feel as though I was supposed to know more about the brothers, including their past and their goals, than I did, I felt as though I was missing something as far as their whole world went too.

To elaborate, they spent several days driving in a desert, running into more outlaws on the way. In addition, they apparently had the only working car for hundreds of miles and there wasn't even mention of a cell phone. As a result of this, I get the feeling this was supposed to be taking place in a post-apocalyptic world. However, the movie never really takes the time to explain that.

Because of this, as I watched this movie, I began to wonder if maybe it was a sequel to another film. However, I did my research and don't see any evidence of that either.

In addition to that, I also thought the end of this movie fell a bit flat. It ended with a flash of action. But, there wasn't even an attempt to build up the drama or suspense prior to that. That, coupled by the fact the movie gives almost no background about any of the characters (making it impossible to care about them), made the ending kind of dull compared to what it could have been.

Final Opinion: I think this movie had some potential, especially based on the location and a cannibal family with some potentially interesting members. However, a weak script and no effort to provide any sort of backstory about the brothers or the world they live in led to this movie falling short of that potential.

My Grade: D

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