american thriller movies – Horror Ghouls

Brian Kessler (David Duchovny) is a journalist who’s got himself invested in the stories about serial killers. He’s also gotten an offer for a book deal, so he and his avant-garde photographer girlfriend Carrie Laughlin (Michelle Forbes) decide to relocate to California in order to pursue their careers. During their road-trip Brian can visit the former homes and murder sites of serial killers, while Carrie snaps some photos. Sounds like a great time! There’s a problem, though…money’s kinda tight. Brian decides to post a ride-share ad on the university campus in the hopes of splitting the costs with some people going the same way. Oh, boy…sometimes you just know a plan is horrible before it’s even set in motion.

So, meanwhile, we head over to the psychopathic and sleazy Early Grayce (Brad Pitt) who’s on parolee and has just lost his job. He lives in a trailerpark together with his gullible and mentally damaged girlfriend Adele Corners (Juliette Lewis). Quite a pair, these two…and they are of course the ones who wants to hitch a ride with Brian and Carrie over to sunny California, after Early sees the ad. Before they leave the trailer park, he murders the landlord and sets the trailer ablaze, so there’s no mystery about what kind of guy Early is. The only question is how many red flags Brian and Carrie will ignore before their inner alarms start blaring. Sure enough, Carrie becomes cautious almost immediately, but Brian encourages her to give them a chance, they’re probably nice when you get to know them…hehe, right. Well, Adele certainly is “nice“ but also such a wreck that you can barely count on her for anything, and often behaves more like a child than an adult…which gives us some really awkward scenes that are borderline funny and slightly disturbing at the same time. I have to give huge props to Juliette Lewis for this role, she plays this character masterfully.

Now, as their road trip continues on, let’s just say that Carrie isn’t exactly surprised when she finds out that Early beats Adele and keeps her under strict control over what he’s allowing her to do or not (like not wanting her to drink but frequently getting shitfaced himself). There’s sooo many red flags continually popping up, but never one big enough to make Brian listen to Carrie’s worries. Funny thing is, that while Brian is working on a book about serial killers, one is riding along with him in the passenger seat…

Kalifornia is a psychological thriller from 1993, written by Stephen Levy and Tim Metcalfe, and directed by Dominic Sena in his feature film directorial debut. It was filmed in Georgia and rural inland California, during the spring on 1992. It got kinda mixed reviews, and bombed hard at the box office, grossing only $2.4 million against its $9 million budget. Owie. It did get nominated for three Saturn Awards in 1994, which included Best Horror Film, but it appears people had some difficulty placing it. Some thought of it as nothing more than a violent exploitation film (it’s not), and others thought it was too much style over substance. It did receive a full 4-star rating by Roger Ebert back in the day though, so while it’s nowhere near as brutal and depraved as some people back then found it to be, it’s still an entertaining road trip thriller.

There’s no doubt that much of the movie’s entertainment relies heavily on the performances. While Brian (David Duchovny) and Carrie (Michelle Forbes) have more subdued performances since they’re the “normal“ people, the unhinged and wacky roles of Early and Adele is what makes their juxtaposition so amusing to watch. Brad Pitt, who plays the violent and distasteful serial killer Early, had at the time been seeking out a role that differed from his “pretty boy“ image. I guess you can say he really hit the nail with this one, then…he comes off as such a dirtbag. And when it comes to Adele played by Juliette Lewis…I honestly can’t imagine anyone else playing that role to such perfection.

While the movie doesn’t really give us any mystery as we learn early on exactly what Early is, there’s always that underlying tension of where the story proceeds to next. And yeah, it’s always a little eye-rolling how a dude writing a book about serial killers are so fucking blind to everything Early says and does that should send his inner alarm blaring like a siren. Then again…it’s easy to sit and nitpick about such things when you watch a movie where you already know something’s wrong. How many times haven’t people in real life been close to all kinds of danger, but refused to consider warning signs because they don’t want to come off as prejudiced and mean?

Overall, Kalifornia is an entertaining road trip thriller, where all performances are pretty good, especially Juliette Lewis as the childlike and incredibly naive girlfriend.

Director: Dominic Sena
Writers: Stephen Levy, Tim Metcalfe
Country & year: USA, 1993
Actors: Brad Pitt, David Duchovny, Juliette Lewis, Michelle Forbes, Kathy Larson, David Milford, John Zarchen, David Rose
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107302/

Eddie Barrish is a jobless guy who tries to find ways to provide for his daughter Sarah. That often involves some options that are…not exactly legal. He tries searching for unlocked cars he can rob, but struggles to find any good valuables to sell at the pawn shop. One day, he finds that a luxury SUV is unlocked, and of course he thinks he’s just hit the jackpot. Well…not so much. Once inside, he finds that the entire vehicle has locked itself, trapping him inside. Kicking, screaming and literally trying to tear the car apart in order to find a way out, he realizes that the car has been made with the intent to keep you, well…locked. It’s also sound proof, and with one-way mirror windows so no one can see inside. Once Eddie is totally exhausted and out of options, he accepts an incoming call on the car’s screen. The caller, who is the owner of the car, is called William and explains that he’s sick and tired of experiencing break-ins, so he decided to build a trap. What follows is a claustrophobic journey with two men from very different viewpoints and perspectives, where one must fight for survival.

Locked is a thriller from 2025, directed by David Yarovesky (who also directed Brightburn from 2019). It stars Bill Skarsgård as Eddie, and Anthony Hopkins as William. The film is a remake of an Argentine action film from 2019, called 4×4.

We all know that regret can come in many forms, but none is more common than the regret that comes not from the actions themselves, but having to face the consequences of them. Eddie, while being an obvious scumbag and criminal, is someone who is also struggling in a world that’s not exactly rigged in his favor. Yet, it still doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have taken better choices, but he is undoubtedly in a more difficult situation to do so. In many ways, this movie is not just a simple survival thriller where someone is trapped in a confined environment, it also mixes a lot of social commentary. Throughout Eddie’s entrapment, he is forced to question his morals and choices. At the same time we have William, who we may understand the motivations of to some extent, but who is also suffering from lack of depth in his views. The movie could have expanded on these clash in views and challenged the viewer much more, but we do have some fairly valid arguments from both sides. William, for example, hasn’t just set up a car as a trap to lure in thieves so he can torture them and teach them a morality lesson just because he’s been robbed a couple times, there’s a backstory here where we can understand how he got to the tipping point and simply wanted revenge. The film, like its original, deals with themes of the struggles of the common people and the privilege of the wealthy. Compared to the original film 4×4, both characters here have certain motivations we can at least partially understand. In the original, the thief was a pretty big douche with hardly any redeeming qualities, though, maybe except for the “Jiminy Cricket“ thing. In this film, Eddie comes off as a much more likeable person, despite very flawed.

While Locked doesn’t go too far with its violence, there’s still some amusing ways that William is torturing Eddie. Whenever he tries something, he gets electrocuted. He’s starved, overheated, and gets blasted with a looped polka song for hours. Yay! There’s a certain fun dynamic between the two, and each try to challenge their world views and biases. Ultimately, Eddie is of course the only one who does a proper soul searching.

Locked is a pretty nice thriller that blends philosophy with horror elements and is fueled by strong performances from a great cast. A fun watch!

Director: David Yarovesky
Writer: Michael Arlen Ross
Country & year: USA/Canada, 2025
Actors: Bill Skarsgård, Anthony Hopkins, Ashley Cartwright, Michael Eklund, Navid Charkhi
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26671996/

Tag: american thriller movies

Kalifornia (1993)

Locked (2025)