Culprit

NOW ON VOD! Oh, do I miss the old small-town Western thriller. In Rich Ronat’s feature, Culprit, a recently released convict, returns home in hopes the town will forgive him for a crime he didn’t commit…or did he?

Accused of murdering a young girl as a teen, Jack Harris (Jamie Donovan) has been absolved of his crimes after his lawyer found DNA evidence that exonerated him. Instead of taking that cushy settlement and disappearing, Jack decides to return home…to the scene of the crime and pick up where life left him. Upon returning home, no one is happy to see him, and trouble follows him everywhere he goes. Jack can even get a quick bite to eat at the local diner.

Well, no one except Lucy Walters (Laura Vale), the victim’s sister, who never believed as a young teen that Jack could harm anyone. Lucy’s defense of Jack led to her decades-long estrangement from her parents, Bill (Ron Orbach) and Ava (Carolyn Mignini). Jack also faces another problem. Since his return, a girl has been found murdered in the same twisted way Lucy’s sister was murdered. Of course, all eyes are on Jack, and the townies are after him with pitchforks. Now, Jack and Lucy are in a race to clear his name.

“A recently released convict returns home in hopes the town will forgive him for a crime he didn’t commit…or did he?”

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed Culprit, but I’ll try anyway. Ronat’s film harkens back to the old television thrillers from the 90s—no frills, simple storytelling. He puts all the pieces in place and starts playing this game of chess between Jack and the killer(?) and then turns the entire town in pawns, bishops, and queens.

As a mystery, the film keeps you guessing. No one is who they say they are, and the best part is that as much as I knew Jack wasn’t the killer, the film keeps planting doubt in my mind thanks to a beautiful blending of crime procedural, psychological, and occult thriller. Jamie Donovan plays Jack as a guy who puts himself right in the face of danger and could care less if he got himself killed. However, the film is not without flaws, but most of them come from the fact that it’s an indie thriller. One can only imagine the potential of an indie film like this if it had a few million added to its production budget.

Culprit is an old-school thriller that knows how to keep you on edge. With a sharp blend of crime procedural and psychological tension, it spins a web of mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end. If you’re craving a tense, no-frills whodunit where danger lurks around every corner, Culprit delivers in spades.