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Octane (2003)

Director: Marcus Adams

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Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Casting an eye around the human flotsam and jetsam at a late-night roadside diner, travel-weary mother (Stowe) and rebellious teenage daughter (Barton) are right to wonder 'Who are these people?' With the same oddball individuals turning up at a series of car smashes and a sinister recovery man haunting the scene, this particular stretch of the Middle American highway is a decidedly eerie place. At first the stressed-out mom puts it all down to fatigue, but when her daughter goes missing after an encounter with a hippie-chick hiker (Phillips), it looks as if her maternal fears are real. This second feature from the director of the schlocky Long Time Dead flickers with promise in the opening reel. Orbital's unsettling electro score sets the scene nicely and the direction takes its time establishing a mood of enigmatic menace lurking behind the everyday. An hour later and it's all gone down the pan. When it comes to delivering answers, the movie stalls for as long as it can before staggering in confusion over the exact nature of the evil-doers plaguing the roads, merrily tossing aside plot coherence and basic credibility as frazzled Stowe turns indestructible superwoman in a pumped-up action finale.

Author: TJ 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

  • dragracer29 said...
    Posted on Aug 02 2009 02:45 this movie was totally radical! i loved the racescene and the love story along made my rpm's redline! you have to watch this movie 3 - 4 times to really appreciate it's true greatness. rock on man!
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Cast & crew

Director: Marcus Adams

Producer: Alistair MacLean Clark, Basil Stephens

Cast: Madeleine Stowe, Norman Reedus, Bijou Phillips, Mischa Barton, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Leo Gregory, Gary Parker, Amber Batty, Jenny Jules, Patrick O'Kane, Martin McDougall full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 91 mins

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