Death Among the Pines has McKeown as Angela, a young woman whose husband (Olly Bassi) is away for work, leaving her alone in their secluded house during a stormy night. Her peaceful evening is disrupted by a knock on the door from a mysterious young man (Nathan Shepka, who also directed) whose car broke down. Despite how suspicious he looks, she lets him in, gives him some of her husband's clothes to change into while his dry, and offers him a glass of whiskey. At the same time, this mysterious young man is at the center of a police manhunt, and when local officer Donny (Kerr) comes to Angela's house to see if their fugitive is hiding out there, she has a decision to make: should she turn this young man over, or protect him from Kerr and the rest of the police.
This was absolutely fantastic, both a tight, smaller-scale thriller that brings you back to the old cable thrillers of the 90s; but also layered and nuanced from the writing, to the performances, to even the cinematography and editing. One of my favorite things was the way Kerr's Donny was introduced into the story. Tom as the writer knew that two characters could only sustain the story so long, so we'd need a third eventually, but he brings Donny in when things are just starting to get interesting between Angela and this mysterious stranger, as opposed after that when things were about to run their course. From there, McKeown, Shepka, and Kerr all play it like Donny's a party crasher, but because we don't really know who anyone is yet, anything could happen from that point, and as a viewer I couldn't wait to see it unfold. I don't want to give anything beyond that away, because I want people to experience this as fresh as possible, and everything else I want to say feels like it could be a spoiler, so I'll leave it at this: if you're looking for an evening thriller done on a smaller scale, but makes the most of it's budget, this should be at the top of your list.
I think the best place to start is in Nicolette McKeown's performance as Angela, because I don't know that the rest of it works if her performance wasn't as great as it was. There was a lot that this movie asked of her, and the way she took it and ran with it makes the whole thing compelling. From there, Shepka and Kerr play two angles of the triangle with McKeown, and they do this dance in their performance where they know as actors outside the film that everything hinges on McKeown, but as characters both think they're in control and that Angela is potentially there for the taking. It's exactly what I want when I fire up a movie like this: excellent performances, a lot of mystery and intrigue, but all in a fun and entertaining spirit. In the podcast episode I did with McKeown and Kerr, they talked about how acting is a career where you get to play make-believe as an adult, and maybe that's the ultimate thing that comes through in the performances, everyone was enjoying themselves, which becomes infectious as the viewer.
This is now the third collaboration between Nathan Shepka and Tom Jolliffe we've done, after When Darkness Falls and The Baby in the Basket, and one element that seems to be a part of all three is a setting that evokes a sense of isolation and claustrophobia. In When Darkness Falls, it's the juxtaposition of the expansiveness of the Scottish Highlands that is beautiful and open during the day, but at night when everything is dark becomes constrictive; in The Baby in the Basket it's the island location, cut off from the rest of the world; and here it's Angela's house, an oasis from the storm outside that may not be such a safe haven. On the surface it feels like limiting locations should make the film easier to produce, but as we've seen with a lot of modern DTV that likes to work in one or two locations, to carry the energy needed to keep things interesting over 90 minutes can be difficult, and a lot of those films resort to all manner of padding to get us over the finish line. For Shepka and Jolliffe to make these stories compelling and have them unfold organically without any padding or dead spots is quite a feat unto itself, and as a result I've really enjoyed watching all three of these movies.
The 90s cable thriller has a bit of a bad connotation, but one of the best ways I remember to spend 90-120 minutes was stumbling upon something while channel surfing, sitting with it for a bit to see what happens, and the next thing I know the credits are rolling and whether I thought the movie was good or bad I had a fun time. It's the crassness of the "good or bad" I think that turns people off, but also, the "bad" often came because maybe we had an actor or two who thought they were slumming it and wanted to get their scenes done and over with; or even if that actor or two did a great job, perhaps they made demands that led to scenes being rewritten so they no longer fit the rest of the story; or maybe a line producer or distributer made suggestions that led to an unevenness that disrupted the flow of the film. What we get here with Death Among the Pines is an example of what happens when everyone is pulling in the same direction, we get the fun of the 90s cable thriller, but with a consistency and higher quality all around, which makes it even better to watch.
Finally, our podcast is no stranger to Scotland, as we have Scott Murphy from All 90s Action, All the Time on the pod every couple months or so to talk about Seagal's DTV oeuvre, plus we've had the director of this film Nathan Shepka on a couple times, and now Nicolette McKeown and Stephen Kerr as well; but this summer as the US hosted the World Cup, the Scottish fans showed up in a big way. It started in Boston, where they wore special tartan-patterned Red Sox jerseys to Fenway Park and made the atmosphere there the most fun its been in years, especially with the team in last place at the time they visited. (The Red Sox then went on an historic run of success and are now firmly in a playoff spot.) The fun of the Scottish fans there was infectious, as stories ran all over the country about them, and I think it helped build more excitement for the World Cup among us Americans. So while Spain won the World Cup on the pitch, if there was a trophy for best supporters, the Scottish fans would've won that, and hopefully all of that goodwill will lead to more of us Americans consuming more Scottish cinema, because there's a lot of great stuff like this film available for us to watch.
And with that, let's wrap this up. Here in the States you can get this on Tubi, or VOD on Prime; and then in the UK, on September 7th it's be available on VOD. This is absolutely worth checking out, especially if you're looking to support indie filmmakers, fire this up on an evening where you're looking for a fun watch. Also, you can check out the podcast episodes we've done on this, episode 238 with Tom Jolliffe, and 249 with Nicolette McKeown and Stephen Kerr.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33089967
