Parents' Guide to Rust Creek

This low-budget thriller has good pacing and a fascinating character dynamic, but it's so riddled with lapses of logic and frustrating behavior that it comes totally undone before it gets going. The character of Lowell is the main reason that Rust Creek works as well as it does. Most of the Appalachian characters are portrayed stereotypically as dimwitted hayseeds or brutal bullies, but Lowell is surprisingly bright and sympathetic, even tragic. Even though he's never been anywhere or done anything, he takes pride in his job and has learned the chemistry behind it, and Sawyer's relationship with him grows into something unexpected.

But, backing up, there's no end of problems with the script for Rust Creek. Why is Sawyer's job interview scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend? Why does she drive so far into the wilderness before she tries to find her way out again? How does she so quickly and easily get lost in the woods (she scrambles up a hill to escape; all she had to do was head back downhill)? Why is her car reported as "abandoned" after only a few hours, and who on this desolate stretch of road reported it? And why does she discard her hoodie in the woods when it's going to get cold? And so on. Moreover, the good-hearted deputy, Katz (Jeremy Glazer) -- who otherwise seems pretty savvy -- seals his fate when he drops his keys. It goes on, with one silly behavior or decision or coincidence after another, and the aggravation of Rust Creek soon outweighs the enjoyment.