SummaryA late night knock at the door from an absent friend brings the question - "I need you to come with me, but I can't tell you where we're going or what we're going to do." How far would you go to help those you care about?
SummaryA late night knock at the door from an absent friend brings the question - "I need you to come with me, but I can't tell you where we're going or what we're going to do." How far would you go to help those you care about?
Unfortunately, the film's execution doesn't quite live up to its promising set-up. Feeling attenuated despite its brief 84-minute running time, it too often seems like an unnecessarily stretched-out version of the short film it was originally conceived as. Not that it doesn't offer some compelling moments along the way.
This was a great movie. Kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Very creative twist and turns! Very suttle humor and an excellent ending! Go see it/buy it!!
Wow! Exciting, you don't know where it is going, great film noir! Great story line, unexpected twists and turns and an ending you will not have guessed.
I recently got to watch The Man in the Trunk at its Los Angeles premiere. It wasted no time getting right to the action and it was packed with suspense right up to the end. Ryan Schwartzman was a terrifying antagonist. Great music, beautiful scenery, and I will never look at candy canes the same way again after watching this film!
Straight up - I wrote and directed this movie, but opening weekend the audiences really enjoyed the film and it was a wonderful experience. Here are some short production notes I wrote that went out with the film that I'll use as my review.
This movie began as a short film written to take place in the Southern California desert under the heat of the sun. It ended up being a feature length film shot in Northwest Arkansas in the dead of Winter reaching temperatures nearing zero degrees on the production's coldest nights causing havoc on both crew and equipment. Scenes designed for open spaces, rocks, and hills were are now dead trees, rugged mountain scapes, and falling snow. When the discussion first began to move production into the dark cold woods, it felt like a betrayal to the story's core concept but in the rear view mirror I can't even imagine the film being done any other way.
In the final days of December 2014, a very small crew piled into a truck pulling a trailer with our equipment and hauled it halfway across the country to meet up with the few talent who graciously flew in interrupting their holiday plans and local crew whom we had come to know over the years and we set out to make a thriller over the next nine days with less than $10k and the gracious support of the local community both in Fayetteville/Winslow, Arkansas and the folks back home.
What never changed from idea to production to years of "labor of love" post-production was the heart of the story which asks the question - How far would you go for an old friend? What would you do when a hard question is put in front of you that is going change your life? Do you look the other way, or do you get in front of it?
The thing I'm most excited about is seeing how audiences interpret that question being asked in the film.
I caught this mystery thriller at its limited theater release in Los Angles. I was kept on the edge of my seat through the whole movie and was surprised by the unexpected twist at the end.
It’s apparent that this movie didn’t have a big Hollywood budget, but the production quality is far above what I expected from a super micro-budget independent film.
The score was great at setting the tone of the movie, which was consistent throughout. The Villain was quietly evil, which was super creepy.
Give it a watch, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Although appearing to be a slow start, Man in the Trunk starts with an unusual appetizer, quietly moves through each serving and ends with an unexpected dessert - leaving you oddly satisfied
The actors weren't bad, though the writing and plot was awful. The movie was stretched out way to far for it's concept, the actions the antagonist makes no sense, their intentions and backstory are scrambled and completely off the hook. This felt like it had more potential as a short film, though the entire plot line is based off of burying someone, then the cop goes to kidnap his wife? I could not understand any of the jumps, probably because the original concept is completely ridiculous and has no potential.