A hard-working family man (Michael C. Hall, given a distinct mullet and Billy Bob Thornton makeover) kills an unarmed home invader only to face exacted terrible retribution from the boy’s recently paroled psycho-daddy (Sam Shepherd). Cape Fear meets 8mm in this thriller that never quite wrenches the gut enough to make the leap from a standard ‘80’s genre homage to the bold and repugnant expose of paternal irresponsibility it aims for. The film’s one act of dispiriting brutality is performed offscreen; no matter how hard the filmmakers may have tried to recreate the sudden act of violence, nothing could have been any more horrifying than the pictures in your head. The cast, including a strong turn by Don Johnson as a small town P.I., is uniformly scuzzy save for Vinessa Shaw, the little woman who spends most of her time relegated to the background, where she knits and looks after the kid. (2014) — Scott Marks
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