Movie Review: A HARD PLACE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: June 13th, 2025 / 03:54 AM

A HARD PLACE | ©2025 50 Caliber Productions

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Felissa Rose, Lynn Lowry, Rachel Amanda Bryant, Kevin Caliber, Jennifer Stone, Ashley Undercuffler, Scott Alan Ward, Miranda Bourke, Steven Morris, Natalia Santacoloma, Holly Rockwell, Sadie Katz
Writers: Michael J. Preston & J. Horton
Director: J. Horton
Distributor: 50 Caliber Productions
Release Date: May 27, 2025 (VOD)

Once upon a time, there were movie theatres that resembled blind grab bags. We knew very broadly going in whether something was horror or action or sexploitation, but mostly, we’d never heard of the specific films playing before we saw the posters in the marquees.

The movies were usually made independently and could be anything from unheralded classics to holy-bananas-what-is-this. The classics often eventually found an audience and so sometimes did what was on the other end of the spectrum. When the movies stayed undiscovered, they still could be touchstones for a moment or an aesthetic.

A HARD PLACE is a reminder of that kind of filmgoing experience, so far off the format map that it’s impossible to know where it’s going or exactly what it’s trying to do. The actors are all committed, but not necessarily on the same page, makeup effects range from convincing to ‘60s-era STAR TREK, and plot twists are around most corners.

A HARD PLACE starts off as what appears to be a cheesy low-budget zombie movie, with people trapped in a building trying to escape the already undead and the recently risen.

Then we pull back to see we’re in an isolated car at a drive-in, where siblings Fish (Rachel Amanda Bryant) and Steve (Steven Morris) are watching the zombies on the screen.

It doesn’t take us too long to comprehend that the “real” action in THE HARD PLACE is along the quality lines of the drive-in fare. Fish and Steve are the getaway drivers for their gang of six. The others are busy robbing the drive-in concession area of something extremely valuable.

Trigger-happy Candy (Jennifer Stone) shoots the concession workers, even though they are completely non-threatening. This appalls Fish and Steve, who were under the impression nobody was going to get hurt.

If this sounds like a lot of plot, it’s just the first few minutes of A HARD PLACE. We never do learn what was stolen, much less what it was doing in the concession stand.

Nobody ever asks about this later, probably because they’ve soon got much bigger problems. Without wanting to intrude on potential viewers’ discovery of the weirdness awaiting our anti-heroes, it can be said that they soon find themselves trapped between two warring backwoods supernatural clans.

Director J. Horton, who wrote the screenplay with Michael J. Preston, is unafraid of abrupt shifts and broad daylight attacks. He doesn’t try too hard to enlist our sympathies – indeed, one character observes it’s hard to know who to root for – but he does generate a lot of curiosity about what’s happening.

For some, A HARD PLACE will have almost irresistible old-fashioned charm. Those who have different sensibilities may want to stick to offerings a little more on the beaten track.

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