Worthy backwoods psychological mystery/thriller

This is a wilderness psychological drama/mystery/thriller. It's marred by an unbelievable scene that occurs around the 24-minute mark, which could've been better written & executed. If you can extend a little suspension of disbelief, the movie ends up being surprising and rewarding. It's actually quite unique. We've all seen movies about missing people before, but not like this one.

The cinematography of the sylvan backwaters (Lake Nicol, Tuscaloosa, Alabama) is superb, particularly the aerial shots. Meanwhile Aleksei Archer stands out as the requisite hot babe.

I like the way the film slowly fleshes out the characters, including a few of the peripheral ones, like the Sheriff (Jason Patrick), the socially awkward kid and the shopkeeper. Naturally the focus is on the couple (Thomas Jane & Anne Heche) and interesting psychological insights thereof.

The flick is Exhibit A on why you shouldn't give up on a movie prematurely. Deeper things may be going on beyond the dubiously simplistic set-up and glaring red herrings.