Killing Ground

The story starts like so many others: a couple are en route to a campsite. But unlike most survival thrillers, instead of the standard idiotic chatter, the relaxation-seekers here actually engage in intelligent conversation—revealing right away that this isn’t going to be the usual ride. On arrival, they find an eerily empty tent pitched nearby, its presence casting a dark shadow over their lovely spot as well as a sense of mystery about the whereabouts of its inhabitants. And as the action progresses, with an intriguing turn of the cinematic clock we begin to go back and forth in time so it can be revealed what happened to the other family—made up of a mom, dad, teenage daughter, and little baby. Expertly constructed and strongly acted—the two sadistic villains are truly skin-crawling and their prey authentic and sympathetic—Damien Power’s feature debut is at times excruciatingly cruel, yet always positively stunning. An IFC Midnight release.