Rust Creek

Last updated
Rust Creek
Rust Creek poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jen McGowan
Written byJulie Lipson
Story by
Produced by
  • Stu Pollard
  • Nicholaas Bertelsen
  • Harris McCabe
Starring
CinematographyMichelle Lawler
Edited byDavid Hopper
Music by H. Scott Salinas
Production
company
Lunacy Productions
Distributed by IFC Films
Release dates
  • May 3, 2018 (2018-05-03)(Bentonville Film Festival) [1]
  • January 4, 2019 (2019-01-04)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Rust Creek is a 2018 American crime thriller film directed by Jen McGowan and written by Julie Lipson. It is based on an original story by Julie Lipson and Stu Pollard. [2] Hermione Corfield stars as a college student who becomes lost while on a road trip and is hunted by criminals who believe her to be a witness to their crimes. It premiered at the 2018 Bentonville Film Festival and was released theatrically on January 4, 2019.

Contents

Plot

Sawyer Scott, a senior at Centre College, receives an offer for a job interview in Washington, DC. Embarrassed that she may not get the job, Sawyer skips Thanksgiving with her family to travel to the interview without telling anyone about her plans. After encountering holiday traffic on I-64, she takes an alternate route but finds it partly closed off. Traveling even deeper into the Appalachian forest, Sawyer eventually turns around but is spotted by brothers Hollister and Buck, who are burying a body.

Concerned she might have seen them, the brothers follow Sawyer and find her studying a paper map. Initially offering help, the brothers soon become hostile when Sawyer rejects their invitation to dinner. Buck and Sawyer are both wounded with his knife during the struggle. The brothers pursue her into the woods for a short distance but turn back as night falls. Disoriented and injured, Sawyer spends the night in a ravine.

After receiving an abandoned vehicle report, county Sheriff O'Doyle questions Hollister and Buck, known local troublemakers, but they deny involvement with Sawyer's disappearance. The brothers later return to Sawyer's vehicle and dispose of it over an embankment in the woods, resuming their search for her. Sawyer finds the wreckage of her car and discovers her cell phone, but the phone has a dying battery and no cellular reception. Suffering from hunger, dehydration, and blood loss, Sawyer loses consciousness near a dumping ground in the woods and is discovered by Lowell, a meth cook who is cousin to Hollister and Buck. Lowell treats Sawyer's wounded leg and offers her food and water, but he binds her with ropes after she throws lye in his face in an escape attempt. The brothers arrive to discuss Lowell's upcoming batch of meth but are suspicious when Lowell disallows them from entering. After the brothers leave, Lowell explains that he is not holding Sawyer hostage but is waiting for the brothers to deliver the batch of meth so he can borrow their pickup and take her to safety. Sawyer relaxes and bonds with Lowell over a discussion of the chemistry involved with cooking meth, helping him prepare the batch.

At the sheriff's office, O'Doyle orders deputy Katz to ignore the missing vehicle report but allows Katz to contact the registered owner to put his mind at ease. When Kentucky State Police commander Slattery arrives, Katz relays the information he has gathered about Sawyer's disappearance. Slattery expresses displeasure with O'Doyle's handling of the case and demands action, angering O'Doyle. O'Doyle returns to Hollister and Buck and demands they find Sawyer, revealing his involvement with their meth operation. After Katz overhears a phone call between O'Doyle and the brothers, he tries to take the sheriff into custody, but O'Doyle kills him and has the brothers dispose of his body. When Slattery returns, O'Doyle "discovers" planted evidence that implicates Katz in Sawyer's disappearance and covers up Katz's murder. While Slattery mobilizes the state police, taking over the investigation from O'Doyle, the sheriff leaves to help with the brothers' meth delivery, planning to upstage the drug cartel that has been moving into the region.

The brothers arrive at Lowell's to pick up the batch of meth and discover Sawyer's footprints on his doorstep, and realize that she was with him. Lowell claims he has Sawyer "trained", instructing her to microwave a cup of coffee for him from a thermos earlier seen to contain anhydrous ammonia. The microwave explodes, killing Buck and badly injuring Lowell and Hollister, but Lowell shields Sawyer from the blast. Sawyer escapes while the trailer burns, and Lowell struggles to overpower Hollister. O'Doyle arrives and kills both cousins, then picks up Sawyer. Sawyer recognizes O'Doyle from an idiom he used previously in a conversation with Lowell which Sawyer overheard, and realizes his intentions are hostile, tipping her off. O'Doyle leads her to the titular Rust Creek and tries to drown her, but she stabs him with a weeding fork she slipped from Lowell's trailer earlier. Finally free of her pursuers, Sawyer limps with determination down the road as multiple state police cruisers converge behind her.

Cast

Production

The script was written by Julie Lipson based on an original story by Stu Pollard, who also produced the film. [2] The film was shot in and around Louisville, Kentucky [3] but certain scenes early in the film are from Danville, KY, including the Trinity Episcopal Church, and Centre College.

Release

The film premiered at the Bentonville Film Festival on May 3, 2018. [1] The film won Best Thriller Feature at the 2018 San Diego International Film Festival. [4] It was released to VoD by IFC Midnight Films services January 4, 2019. [5]

On November 30, 2020, Rust Creek had its Netflix debut. The film spent more than a week on Netflix's top ten movies list. [6]

Reception

Rust Creek has an approval rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 44 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "Rust Creek subverts expectations with a surprisingly layered survival drama anchored in a rich setting and a gripping lead performance from Hermione Corfield." [7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 59 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [8]

Accolades

List of accolades received by ‘’Rust Creek’’
YearAwardCategoryRecipientsResult
2018Breckenridge Festival of Film AwardsBest Drama [9] Won
Best Actress [9] Hermione CorfieldWon
Best DirectorJen McGowanWon
Film Threat Award ThisBest Director [9] Jen McGowanWon
Jefferson State Flixx FestBest Actress [9] Hermione CorfieldWon
Rhode Island International Film FestivalDirectorial Discovery Award [9] Jen McGowanWon
San Diego International Film Festival Best Thriller [4] Won

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Slattery</span> American actor and director

John M. Slattery Jr. is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Roger Sterling in the AMC drama series Mad Men (2007–15), for which he was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. For his role he won two Critics' Choice Television Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Stu Pollard is an American film producer, writer and director. His credits include Nice Guys Sleep Alone and Keep Your Distance, as well as the 2019 survival thriller Rust Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keegan DeWitt</span> American musician

Keegan DeWitt is an American film composer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was raised in Oregon and now resides in Los Angeles. He is the lead singer of the indie rock band Wild Cub, as well as a composer for film scores.

<i>The Killer Inside Me</i> (2010 film) 2010 US crime drama film by Michael Winterbottom

The Killer Inside Me is a 2010 American crime drama and an adaptation of the 1952 novel by Jim Thompson. The film is directed by Michael Winterbottom and stars Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, and Kate Hudson. It is the second film adaptation of Thompson's novel, the first being 1976's The Killer Inside Me, directed by Burt Kennedy.

<i>Winters Bone</i> 2010 film by Debra Granik

Winter's Bone is a 2010 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Debra Granik. It was adapted by Granik and Anne Rosellini from the 2006 novel by Daniel Woodrell. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as a poverty-stricken teenage girl named Ree Dolly in the rural Ozarks of Missouri who, to protect her family from eviction, must locate her missing father.

<i>Cold Weather</i> 2010 American film

Cold Weather is a 2010 American mystery film directed by Aaron Katz and written by Katz, Brendan McFadden, and Ben Stambler. The film stars Cris Lankenau as a former forensic science student investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. The film was shot and set in Portland, Oregon. Cold Weather premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2010 and was released in the United States by IFC Films in February 2011.

<i>Homefront</i> (2013 film) 2013 film by Gary Fleder

Homefront is a 2013 American action thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and written by Sylvester Stallone, who also produced the film with Kevin King Templeton and John Thompson. The film, which is based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Logan, stars Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder and Kate Bosworth. In the film, Phil Broker, a retired DEA agent, leads a peaceful life with his daughter Maddy, but trouble ensues as Broker and Maddy gets entangled with Gator, a crime boss, due to a school bullying incident.

<i>Extraterrestrial</i> (2014 film) 2014 Canadian film

Extraterrestrial is a 2014 Canadian science fiction horror film that was directed by Colin Minihan—one half of the Vicious Brothers, who co-produced, wrote, and edited the film. It stars Brittany Allen, Freddie Stroma, and Melanie Papalia as a group of friends who must defend themselves against an alien onslaught.

Jen McGowan is an American filmmaker. At the 2014 South by Southwest Film Festival, McGowan won the Gamechanger Award for Kelly & Cal, her first feature film. McGowan is the creator of filmpowered.com, an international skill-sharing, networking and job resource for professional women in film and television.

<i>Carnage Park</i> 2016 American film

Carnage Park is a 2016 American crime horror thriller film directed and written by Mickey Keating. The film stars Ashley Bell, Darby Stanchfield, Pat Healy, and Alan Ruck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermione Corfield</span> English actress (born 1993)

Hermione Isla Conyngham Corfield is an English actress. She has appeared in films including Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), Mr. Holmes (2015), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Rust Creek (2018) and The Misfits (2021).

<i>The Autopsy of Jane Doe</i> 2016 supernatural horror film

The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a 2016 supernatural horror film directed by André Øvredal. It stars Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch as father-and-son coroners who experience supernatural phenomena while examining the body of an unidentified woman. It is Øvredal's first English-language film. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2016, and IFC Midnight released it on December 21, 2016. It grossed $6 million at the box office. The critical consensus at Rotten Tomatoes calls it "a smart, suggestively creepy thriller".

<i>Unsane</i> 2018 horror-thriller film by Steven Soderbergh

Unsane is a 2018 American psychological thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer. The film stars Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins, and Amy Irving, and follows a woman confined to a mental institution after she is pursued by a stalker. The film was shot entirely on the iPhone 7 Plus.

<i>Super Dark Times</i> 2017 film by Kevin Phillips

Super Dark Times is a 2017 American independent psychological thriller film directed by Kevin Phillips and starring Owen Campbell, Charlie Tahan, Elizabeth Cappuccino, Max Talisman and Amy Hargreaves. It is Phillips' directorial debut. After a traumatic accident, an inseparable pair of teenage boys and best friends lose their innocence and sanity from jealousy, violence and paranoia.

<i>Sea Fever</i> 2019 Irish feature film directed by Neasa Hardiman

Sea Fever is a 2019 science fiction horror thriller film written and directed by Neasa Hardiman, starring Hermione Corfield, Dougray Scott and Connie Nielsen. The film follows the crew of a marooned fishing trawler, who find themselves threatened by a parasitic infection.

<i>Disappearance at Clifton Hill</i> 2019 Canadian thriller film

Disappearance at Clifton Hill is a 2019 Canadian thriller film, directed by Albert Shin. The film stars Tuppence Middleton as Abby, a young woman who returns home to Niagara Falls, Ontario, when she inherits a family-owned motel in the city's Clifton Hill tourist district following her mother's death, and becomes obsessed with reconstructing inchoate childhood memories of witnessing a kidnapping.

<i>Relic</i> (2020 film) 2020 film

Relic is a 2020 Australian psychological horror film directed by Natalie Erika James from a screenplay by James and Christian White. The film stars Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, and Bella Heathcote.

<i>Devils Gate</i> (2017 film) 2017 American horror thriller film

Devil's Gate is a 2017 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Clay Staub from a screenplay by Peter Aperlo. The film stars Amanda Schull, Shawn Ashmore, Milo Ventimiglia, Bridget Regan and Jonathan Frakes.

<i>Dark Encounter</i> 2019 film

Dark Encounter is a 2019 science fiction mystery thriller, written and directed by Carl Strathie, in which a terrorising alien encounter reveals the dark truth behind a child disappearance in rural Pennsylvania.

<i>Red Right Hand</i> (film) 2024 film by Ian and Eshom Nelms

Red Right Hand is a 2024 American action thriller film directed by Ian Nelms and Eshom Nelms and starring Orlando Bloom and Andie MacDowell.

References

  1. 1 2 "Rust Creek". Bentonville Film Festival. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  2. 1 2 McNary, Dave (2018-09-20). "IFC Midnight Buys U.S. Rights to Survival Thriller 'Rust Creek'". Variety. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  3. ↑ "'Rust' rolls into town". The State Journal. 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  4. 1 2 "Award Winners | San Diego International Film Festival". San Diego International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2018-11-14. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
  5. ↑ "Rust Creek", IFC Films, retrieved 2019-05-03
  6. ↑ "This Thriller Just Hit #5 on Netflix's Most-Watched Movie List—and It Looks Intense". 3 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  7. ↑ "Rust Creek". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Rust Creek". Metacritic . Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Rust Creek - Followed by a Q&A with SCA alumni Jen McGowan, Julie Lipson, and Stu Pollard". cinema.usc.edu. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.