'Rogue River' DVD Review

Frustrating and overly earnest with annoying characters.

Seeking a place to dump her recently deceased father's ashes, Mara drives into the wilderness, stopping by a placid river. She's interrupted by a kindly old man named Jon, who stops to make small talk, and wouldn't you know it, when she returns to the road, her car is gone -- apparently towed by the local sheriff. Lucky for her, Jon is around to give her a ride, but first he says he has to drop by his house to let his wife Lea know what he's doing. When they arrive, Lea offers to let Mara stay the night, and then things turn weird. Jon and Lea are no ordinary couple, and it's no accident that Mara ended up at their house. The pair have a sinister plan in store for her, and they're willing to kill to see it through to the end.

Rogue River is a tiresome, humorless exercise in brutality that seems to serve only as a showcase of how insane the two antagonists are and how much torment they can heap upon their hapless victim. It's a frustrating viewing experience in which the method behind the villains' madness goes unexplained for too long, and even then, their madness feel overly exaggerated and random -- just the filmmakers' attempts at cheap shock value. The movie desperately wants to be edgy, but it comes off as annoying and desperate with inconsistent characterizations, inept baddies (who constantly allow their prisoner to escape) and a plot whose details don't add up. There are some admirable attempts at quiet poignancy in Rogue River, but it's all too little and much too late.

The DVD

Special features include commentary and featurettes.

Movie: D+
DVD: C+

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