Thirst

Noelle (Lacey Chabert) thinks she may be pregnant with her boyfriend Bryan (Tygh Runyan). Tyson (Brandon Quinn) leads them and Atheria (Mercedes McNab) to Devil's Children in the middle of nowhere to shoot some pictures. They swerve to avoid a wolf in the road and drive off the trail.

Neither guys are likable although Tyson is a deliberate choice. Bryan isn't much better despite probably suppose to be the nicer guy. He's not a good boyfriend. Atheria is the classic superficial blonde. Noelle played by Chabert is closest to a likable human being although her relationship is more annoying than anything. This is a boring survival movie for a long time. Some guys may be bowled over by Lacey in a bikini but there is nothing here. The only interesting thing is where Noelle finds water. I can honestly say that I have never seen that before.

I found "Thirst" to be a lovely little film that I doubt most people will see. Flipping through Jeffery Scott Lando's other films, I'm afraid I haven't seen any of his previous work, but being a fan of all things Buffy-related when I saw Mercedes McNab was in the cast I scooped it up without a second thought. I wasn't disappointed. With breathtaking, oppressive scenery the movie creates a sense of despair mingling nicely the backdrop of the film with the inner turmoil of the lead couple's relationship. The movie reminded of films like "Open Water" and other man vs. the natural world themed films.

I liked three out of four of the cast. Mercedes McNab did a good job with a relatively standard character in Jennifer. Lacey Chabert seemed well suited to the roll of Noelle, and ultimately showed the most emotion in the film. Bandon Quinn seemed to suit his character of Tyson quite well alternately making me dislike and root for him and wasn't bad to look at either. However, Tygh Runyan's portrayal of Bryon seemed emotionless and out of sync with the rest of the cast. Whether this was due to a character I genuinely didn't like or to the actor's performance I'm not sure, since I haven't seen Runyan in any other roles.

As the four, two couples, struggle onward through the desert the plot increasingly revolves less around the characters interactions and more around the dangers that the desert presents. I would have liked to see a bit less of people protesting that they couldn't go onward and a bit more desert danger. Lacey Charbert's character came off as a bit of a know it all, a limitless source of information and the hero of near every scene while the men came off as a bit whiny and rather useless and the ending hit full throttle suddenly and just slammed through a scene that could have built a good long bit of hopelessness.

On the whole though, if you like the 'stranded and must survive' style films you'll probably like it, if you don't it'll probably drag.

at the time of writing this has a 4.5 rating from 141 reviews, thats misleading from such a small number of reviews. The stuck in the middle of nowhere/survival movie has been done a hundred times, its normally down to the director if the movie is worth seeing. Director Jeffery Scott does a good job here, not having too long of an intro to the characters at the start which some films make a meal of and then once they get into trouble, he builds the suspense and the angst slowly. The cast of almost unknowns do fairly well here, and the beautiful lacey chabert should go on to do better stuff. There are some plot holes and eyebrow raising scenes here which you'd expect from a low budget film but on the whole, this kept my interest throughout and is a good edition to the genre.

Despite relying on atmosphere rather than blood and gore, this film does not quench my thirst for a good horror/suspense movie. There may be fine acting, but the film's prone to horriblathermia: Stage 1 - poor characterization; Stage 2 - bland chemistry; Stage 3 - its inability to scare or create feelings of unease; Stage 4 - complete boredom (this is also known as the stage in where there's no hope for this movie now); Stage 5 - predictable ending. The music failed to make it any better. Instead of trying to find a plot (or watch this movie), actually hike through the desert, but bring a lot more water than the idiots in this film did (They only brought 2 bottles, which wasn't very smart).

The right decision would have been to backtrack at the point where the vehicle left the road. Why head elsewhere to unknown territory when all they had to do was keep walking on the road until hopefully a vehicle would show up? Then again, there would be no movie and all the suspense. I watched the movie and did enjoy it but after even one day hunger starts to set in and with the intense heat and no proper attire e.g. the women then would have been sunburned and totally exhausted. Doubt that the baby would have survived under those conditions. Where was the movie filmed as the area was so desolate and scary? It was risky for Noelle to attempt what she did on Jennifer when there was no medicine or sanitary conditions available. That was not believable.