This year’s award for the “How Dumb Must a Character Be?” ending goes to Harper Sykes (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), a chameleonic nature photographer on assignment in the meth-infested backwoods of Virginia’s fictional Watchatoomy Valley. Hospitalized and mummified in gauze, Sykes recounts to a doubting cop a nightmare flashback that begins with her stumbling across (and photographing) a scene not meant for her eyes. A gas station lowlife tips head miscreant Ravener (Robert Longstreet) about her lenswork. As sure as summer tails spring, Sykes’ subsequent gang rape is followed by violent retribution, as one-by-one, her abusers meet a barbarous demise. My guess is that first-time writer-director Teddy Grennan came up with the Human Centipede-style ending and worked backwards to fashion a story around it. The end doesn’t justify the means, particularly when it comes to casting Bruce Dern in the throwaway role of of the valley’s petrified mascot and torture connoisseur. Do yourself a favor and check out Coralie Fargeat's Revenge to see the proper way to tell this story. (2019) — Scott Marks
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