Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Hermione Corfield, Jay Paulson, Sean O’Bryan, Micah Hauptman, Daniel R. Hill, Jeremy Glazer, John Marshall Jones, Jake Kidwell, Virginia Schneider, Denise Dal Vera, Alexandra Jensen, Stu Pollard.

There are some films which unfortunately have the same effect on the soul as eating a dozen creme filled profiteroles has on the waist line, the desire for what you believe is substantial, soon leaves you feeling bloated, unsatisfied and underwhelmed, leaving you finally scratching your head at the thought of having to deal with the aftermath, the thought of pondering over what to make of the film which promised so much, but in the end left you battling cinematic fatigue.

Whilst Rust Creek is by no means the worst film that you ever likely to come across as you while away the darkened hours of insomnia, or one that you record for an afternoon as the temptation of the couch calls, it nonetheless is a film that leaves the feeling of being unsatisfied completely exposed, the dish which once housed a blissful eye of sweet, now just remorse, an empty plate destined to be washed clean and reused in the same unfulfilled fashion.

The story itself is perhaps noble, at least in theory, and yet one of the absolute criteria of such a thriller is that you must feel some empathy, or at least be willing on the survivor to take down the perpetrators of the crime; Rust Creek skirts the issue, dangles the carrot of retribution in the viewer’s face but then snatches it away, leaving the hollow as the overriding emotion faced.

Rust Creek is an affair in which there is no temptation, the fear faced seeming limp, expected, never too far from being thrown a blank stare of consistency, and for that the threat faced by Sawyer, a competent yet unoccupied performance by Hermione Corfield, as she finds herself at the mercy of the local unsavoriness, meth makers and the corruption of local law enforcement. It is a role that does not supply the passion to which the normally vibrant actor is more than capable of giving to the audience, and it is a pity that that she has been placed in such a position.

A less than average film and one that does not deliver what was promised on the menu. Rust Creek is hard to like.

Ian D. Hall