The opening shots of Rory Karpf’s Grace Point depict John Owen Lowe’s Brandon Hayes racing through the woods, running for his life. But is that all he is running from? To find out, we jump back four days earlier, finding Brandon being driven by his father Winston, played by Andrew McCarthy, to Promise Valley, a secluded rehab facility. Brandon doesn’t believe he has a problem, only submitting to rehab under sufferance. He hates the world, he hates his old man, and he really needs a leak.
The Hayes boys enter the town of Grace Point, pulling into the only gas station for miles around. While Winston refuels, Brandon heads inside to relieve himself and buy some cigarettes, stopping to flirt with Harlan Drum’s Sophie, who fingers him immediately for a rehab patient, insisting she knows because Grace Point is a small town, and those passing through stand out like Shaq walking through the Smurf village.
With the car gassed up, Brandon heads back to his father, who he finds is being harassed by some itinerant hanging around the pumps. Back on the road, Brandon asks Winston what the man is saying to him; then the engine overheats, and now, in the absolute middle of nowhere, they pull over again. This is where Brandon’s problems multiply, as a band of road-pirate types emerges in a pickup truck, shoots Winston, and forces Brandon to start running.
“…rescued by reclusive army vet Cutter…”
This marks the beginning of a danger-filled odyssey. Brandon has the evidence of his father’s murder recorded on his cell phone, his father’s killers in hot pursuit, and withdrawals from his drug habit weaken him with each hour that passes. When he finally succumbs to fatigue, Brandon awakes to find he’s been saved by reclusive army vet Cutter Jim Parrack, who chose to live in the wild, hoping to lose the madness he brought back from the war in the silence of the forest. Brandon implores him for help. But when he tells Cutter his father has been murdered, Cutter refuses to go against the men he knows are responsible.
Brandon is forced to continue alone until he is finally tracked down by his father’s murderer, Luther Stone, Sean Carrigan, and also finds out that Sophie, the girl he flirted with, is part of the trap. Fortunately, the hermit Cutter is more of a hero than he appears on the surface, rescuing Brandon from the bad guys. But the path to safety is beset with challenges and trials of valor. Brandon soon comes to understand the root of what eats away at his soul during the quest to avenge his father whilst on the way, stumbling across the secret hidden in the heart of the community of Gross Point.
Director Karpf and Paul Russell Smith’s script is smart and sharp. Combined with the great atmosphere generated by the photography and score, courtesy of Al Francesco and Theron Kay, this humble yet multifaceted thriller is only stained slightly by the jagged performance of John Owen Lowe, who, while good in conversational scenes, in the moments where tension arrives, makes Brandon appear as though he’s constipated rather than concerned. The best performance goes to the soulful warrior, Jim Parrack’s Cutter, and it’s nice to see the aging McCarthy, who also serves as executive producer.
Grace Point is a movie that begins predictably but soon shifts up a gear or two until it hits cruising speed. But be wary of a twist in the road because when it hits, the movie accelerates to Get Out great!
"…...shifts up a gear or two until it hits cruising speed."
