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Go With Me
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Julia Stiles, Ray Liotta, Alexander Ludwig, Hal Holbrook, Lochlyn Munro
Director: Daniel Alfredson
A belated digital release (presumably on the strength of Hopkins' Oscar-winning turn in The Father) for this underrated thriller, atmospherically set in the logging country of America's far north-west.
Moving back to her home town near Washington after her mother's death, Lillian (Stiles) soon finds herself stalked and menaced by local psycho crimelord Blackway (viciously played by Liotta, looking hardly older than when he starred in GoodFellas) who once attempted to rape her while she was working as a waitress.
Everybody in the logging community is afraid of Blackway, who was once a deputy, but 'moved on to badder things' and has left a trail of terror and depredation in his wake.
After the latest attack, in which he beats her and kills her cat, Lillian appeals for help. The local sheriff shrugs her off, and refers her to a nearby logging camp, where her contact, himself beaten to a pulp by Blackway, turns her away. But help comes from an unexpected source, in the form of retired logger Lester (Hopkins, on good form), bringing his stammering, slightly simple friend (Ludwig) along with him.
'Why are you doing this?' asks a surprised Lillian on the way back. Lester, a man of few words, just replies: 'Needed to be done.'
After a raid on one of Blackway's drug havens - why don't they keep the sawn-off shotgun they seize? - the trio set themselves up as bait in the heart of the woods...
Director Alfredson, who made the original second and third Swedish films in the 'Dragon Tattoo' trilogy, ensures that his film moves at a good pace, with mist-enshrouded pines providing a chilly ambience you can almost feel. A flop on its first release, the film is well worth a re-appraisal.
David Quinlan
USA/Sweden 2015. UK Distributor: 101 Films. Colour (unspecified).
91 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 1, Swearing 2.
Review date: 18 Apr 2021