I.   Plot

We find out at the start of the movie that Nancy Osborne, the main character played by Jessica Belkin, is pregnant. At this point in the movie, Nancy seems unsure of who the father is or what to do about the baby, but it seems like she’s leaning towards getting an abortion. We soon find out she works at a diner called the Fat Bottom Bistro that her and her father own together. We also find out her mother passed away some years ago and that was potentially traumatic for her. Nancy is a manager at the diner, but no one, especially the main cook, Jake Collins played by Taylor Kowalski, seem to respect her at all. In fact, when the motorcycle gang of crazy teens invades the restaurants, starts threatening Nancy and dropping tons of profanities at her, Jake is laughing and making and making fun of her the whole time. 

As a result of Jake’s asinine behavior, Nancy impulsively decides to fire him. Then everybody else, including Jake’s brother Petey who appears to be on the Autism spectrum and Bobby, who clearly has a crush on Nancy, all walk out of the restaurant like they plan to go on strike. Later that night, it appears Nancy is being attacked by the same kids from the before on the mopeds as they are dawning the same masks and torturing her in the same way. She calls the police, and they send the sheriff over, but they kill him. Then the assailants pull off their masks to reveal that it was the other employees from the restaurant, including Jake Collins whom she fired, who were behind the whole attack.

We now flash back to the story from Jake’s point-of-view. He had pled with Nancy to keep this job because he needs money for his medications and other important bills, but she wouldn’t hear of it. He was done. He tried to get his medication anyway but couldn’t but instead smoked a ton of crack instead. He and Petey then came across the kids with the mopeds, brutally murdered them, and stole their weapons, masks, and mopeds. Jake recruited everyone else at the diner to torture Nancy and now we see the night played out through the point-of-view of the assailants. 

Jake fell out of control and started killing everybody that didn’t abide by his orders, such as Bobby, who didn’t want to be a part of this because he loved Nancy. Nancy stabbed Jake in the back in the front of the diner. But then Jake takes a large knife and stabs Nancy 3 times, including once where her baby should be. Although it looks like she’s dead, she wakes up towards the very end, goes to Jake’s mobile home, and slashes his throat wide open, killing him. Nancy is then walking through a field, grunting because she is in a lot of pain. She falls to the ground, and we see a flashback where she’s asking her friend Tabitha, “What’s the point of it all?

What’s the point in going on?” Her father finds her, and she says, “Daddy, my baby.”

II. Analysis

 Firstly, the only one who displayed major character development was Nancy. In the beginning of the movie, when she found out she was pregnant, she was ready to get an abortion, almost like she didn’t have much regard for human life. However, by the end of the movie, this seems to have changed. She seems to become more of an altruistic force and no longer narcissistic. She says to her father at the end of the movie, “Daddy, my baby.” It seems like, for the first time, she is genuinely caring about this baby, something/someone other than herself, which is a huge, positive character development and personality change for her.

Clearly, the attack on Nancy at the diner by her fellow workers is representative of the darkness and evil that results when you treat others selfishly, rudely, and disrespectfully. Jake took Nancy’s behavior towards him and turned into a night of torture and mayhem for her. Also, what really drove Jake to act so crazy was clearly the drugs he was using to cope. He was smoking crack, and this caused him to go out of his mind, kill the moped kids, recruit everyone else, and go after Nancy.

There were also parallels to other home invasion films. Notably, there were numerous similarities to The Strangers (2008). In both movies, the beginning scenes start by displaying the “after” shot of what happened, in other words, the dead bodies, bloody floors and weapons, a call to 911, etc. This type of beginning scene is also done in He’s Out There (2018). Furthermore, there are several scenes of knocking and pounding on the windows and doors of the diner, whereas in The Strangers (2008), the assailants try to scare Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman with loud knocking and banging on the front door as well. Also, there is a lot of different music played both by Nancy and the killers and the assailants in The Strangers (2008) also play records on the record machine. In both instances, this method works well to add to the eerie setting of each movie. There was also a scene in The Strangers (2008) where the main characters are tied up in chairs before they are stabbed to death by “The Strangers”. There is a similar scene in this movie where Nancy and Bobby are tied to chairs using duct tape and Nancy asks, “Why are you doing this to me?” Just like Liv Tyler asks “The Strangers” but Nancy and Bobby aren’t stabbed while in the chairs.

Finally, there is a major parallel between this movie and the one called I See You (2019). In this movie, similarly to this one, the first half is told through the point-of-view of the protagonist, but then, it shifts to the other side halfway through to the point-of-view of the young man who had been living in the house waiting to reek revenge because the protagonist had abducted him as a little boy. So, very similar plot structures here, which, I think strengthen the movie rather than bring it down.

III. Acting, Setting, & Music

The acting wasn’t all that great outside of Jessica Belkin who played Nancy. She seemed legitimately scared and frightened, especially when yelling at the sheriff, for example. But her crying was also believable and also when she wasn’t feeling well. And the ending scene where she talks about the meaning of life and what’s the point in going on was well-done. She did a good job conveying herself as a disillusioned 20-year-old who has no idea what she’s doing with her life. Very sad. Everyone else really over-acted their parts. Too much screaming, cursing, etc. when there didn’t need to be. Not really all that believable. The only other one that was believable was Bobby. He had a crush on Nancy, and the actor did an excellent job displaying that crush and his immense disappointment that she didn’t feel the same way. Oh, and by the way, if I’m interpreting this right from the movie, I’m pretty sure Nancy’s baby is his. 

The setting for this movie was nearly perfect. An isolated diner in the middle of nowhere, middle of the night, no one around. Just an incredibly clever spin on the usual type of setting to a home invasion film. Actually, reminds me of When a Stranger Calls (2006). That was a 3-story house, so lots of room to move around in, but also lots of room to move around in the diner even though it’s small. Never know when something or somebody is going to pop up! The music in this movie was unique. There was a lot of techno and hard rock that I do believe made the atmosphere quite special. 

IV. Themes

The following themes are apparent to me in this movie:

1. Always try to be altruistic and care about others in addition to yourself. Narcissism will only lead to loneliness and people potentially wanting to seek vengeance against you.
2. Always try to find some reason to keep going on. I promise you, it’s there (e.g. for Nancy, it’s her baby). Life does have meaning. We just have to find it somewhere.
3. Don’t use drugs and alcohol as a replacement for prescription medicine.
4. “Trauma is a gateway drug” ~Jake Collins from the movie.

PLOT: 4/5                    ACTING: 3/5                   SETTING: 4.5/5                            MUSIC: 4/5

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 4/5 (Nancy).          TOTAL:  3.9/5, B+