Get Out of My Screams and Into My Car

Title:  Penny Dreadful

Actors/Director/Anything Worth Mentioning Right Away:  The title character is portrayed by Rachael Miner, who may be someone but I’m not sure.  Her psychiatrist is played by Mimi Rogers, who has been in a number of things.

Introduction:   This marks review # 3 out of the 8 Films to Die For: Year One.   I got this as a lot with the others in this year (minus The Hamiltons and The Abandoned) for a very reasonable price on eBay, considering that they were all sealed and from Best Buy.

Location:  In a car, on a road, driving through the night skies.

Plot:   This movie revolves around a girl named Penny (duh) who was in some sort of terrible car crash and now hates cars.  Her therapist or whoever (played by Mimi Rogers) decides to help her overcome her fears by putting her in a car and taking her back to where the incident occurred.    Right off the bat I can tell you that this movie is funny because every time Mimi Rogers speaks, she usually says something encouraging to Penny, like, “Don’t you want to get better and put this all behind you?  Let’s keep going!”  It is very easy, as an observer, to counter anything she says with “Shut up, you’re not my real mom!!”  for tons of great laughs.   Anyway, Mimi Rogers is pretty much the death of this girl in this movie.  If you ever wonder what not to do in a movie, just watch the character Mimi Rogers plays and don’t do anything she does.   First off, she gets distracted while driving and hits a guy.   Okay, not entirely her fault, so we can let that slide.    When she gets out of the car to check on him, she comes back in to inform the traumatic Penny that she has offered him a ride somewhere because what else did you expect her to do, she just hit him.   How about saying no, lady?   She then proceeds to drive him to a camp in the middle of nowhere that he claims to work at and that I claim doesn’t really exist.    He creepily waves goodbye and they don’t see him again until the stabbing starts.    So here’s my thing… First off, you don’t EVER pick up hitchhikers, especially in the middle of nowhere when it’s dark and you are alone with a traumatized girl.   In this situation, the most she should have done was driven this guy straight to a hospital.   The least she should have done was just kept driving.   I would have met somewhere in the middle and called 911 for the guy, but then took off.    It wouldn’t be as bad as the hit and run, but it wouldn’t give him a chance to kill me while I stuck around to wait for the EMTs either.  Also, when she checked on him, she was apparently okay, so all she probably needed to do was say, “You sure you don’t want me to call an ambulance just to be sure?   Okay, see you later then.   Go back to walking in the road at night in the middle of nowhere without streetlights you crazy son of a bitch”.  That could have also worked.

Acting:  It’s not bad, but it’s not great.   There isn’t a lot of dialogue and that definitely helps.

Production:  It looks like it could’ve been in theaters, but it has a very bluish hue to it, up until close to the end when the red in Penny’s jacket finally comes out.

Sex/Nudity:   No, she’s too busy being murdered.

Special Effects:   Minimal at best, but still done well.

Overall Verdict:  I’ve never seen Rest Stop and don’t really remember much about Wrong Turn, but this movie might be like those.   I don’t know.   The idea is there, and it’s in the right place, it’s just that the Mimi Rogers character is so stupid.