Fender Bender Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After getting into--you guessed it--a fender bender, a girl is stalked by the deranged driver.

Review: I really wasn't expecting much from, what appears to be, a made for TV movie, however, this one happily surprised me. Although it is loaded with cliches out the ass, and a 5 minute premise stretched into 90, the tale is told effectively and has a ballsy ending worthy of respect. Yeah, I definitely did not see that one coming. In fact, I was teetering on whether to give this a 5 or 5.5/10 for most of the running time until the ending saved the entire experience. Well...that and the pizza scene of course!

You can easily tell the inspiration for the story came from someone's real life. The film keeps stressing how weird it is that strangers exchange private information after a minor car accident. You can almost picture the writer/director sitting around telling people how dangerous this concept is until someone was like, "They should make a movie about that." And here we are. Ehh...this plot line probably could have been condensed down to a short, but it works better than you'd imagine. The story focuses on a serial killer who gets into accidents with his victims so that he has all the information he needs to stalk them. This time around he is going after a high school girl named Hilary. Due to contrivances with a cheating boyfriend, much of the killer's antics are misinterpreted by Hilary and her flunky friends. Realistically, Hilary is an idiot who should have called the cops multiple times but oh well. After toying with the girl for a time, and picking off her friends plus the cheater, Hilary decides she's had enough in the most stereotypical of ways. I kept thinking that this killer was getting beat too easily, but this is to lull the audience into a false sense of security. Believe it or not, they actually make the killer win! After much chase, the killer catches and kills Hilary despite all the hallmarks of a cliched, Hollywood ending in the making. Hey, I gotta give them credit for that one. Sure, plenty of films have the villain win, but you usually sense it coming in advance. This film, on the other hand, played it by the numbers all the way. Hell, even when he first stabbed both of Hilary's legs I kept thinking she will magically get out of this scenario but nope. The film simply ends with the killer looking for his next victim. It also implies he takes money from his current victim in order to fill his gas just enough to lead him to the next victim.

Other than the pizza and ending, I thoroughly enjoyed the music. It was trying to sound '80s-ish--and not fully succeeding--but was still decent and enhanced the tone they were striving for. The killer had a lot of potential to expand upon yet I felt they didn't present him adequately. He came off far too creepy when I think someone like this should have been superficially charming. Rather than unsettling Hilary with a questionable choice of words, the killer should have been almost flirting in a way to disarm the victim. You know, throwing in compliments that fish for information and such...I mean...uhh...I don't know anything about how to be a serial killer. Also, what's with the gimp suit? That absolutely doesn't fit this guy's persona whatsoever. If he loves his car that should incorporate more into his style rather than just running over one of Hilary's friends. Maybe if we get a sequel we can see this guy fleshed out more. As for Hilary herself, the actress, Makenzie Vega, takes the role more seriously than I thought she would which helped. No one was exactly turning in stellar performances, but the cast worked well enough with the material given. Though...I have to say, the character stereotypes were painful to behold. You've got the iconic good girl, the douchebag jock, the flamboyantly gay guy that keeps stressing how gay he is in case you couldn't tell, and the bitter bitch wondering, unironically, "where have all the good men gone?" This is the best you got--really? Thank god the killer took care of all of 'em.

All things considered, this turned out better than a lot of big-budget films. The basic plot is simplistic and clearly stretched out with filler scenes, but it's done tastefully enough with a moderate attempt at building atmosphere. The vast majority of the story is generic and nothing you haven't seen a million times before. Despite this, the general production and presentation are above average with a few glimpses into a deeper potential. But what really clinches the experience is the satisfying ending that elevates this above just another time waster you forget about the moment the credits have begun to roll. This conclusion is not original, but it does feel shocking given the cookie cutter nature of everything else. I'd recommend checking this out if you see it on Chiller or wherever; not sure if this will get a DVD release or not so that might be the only option. Just don't expect to be blown away or anything.

Notable Moment: When Hilary and her friends are having a little pizza party. Need I say more? It's PIZZA! Plus, they actually spent a fair amount of time eating it, and the killer even had a slice!

Final Rating: 6/10