Thirst

(2008)***

Aspiring model Atheria and her boyfriend Tyson head to the remote section of a desert so Tyson can take some stellar shots of Atheria to jumpstart her career. Along for the ride are Bryon and his crabby girlfriend Noelle. Unbeknownst to everyone, medical student Noelle is pregnant and would just assume remain back at the hotel. Byron just thinks that she’s a killjoy out to ruin all the fun. After many hours in the oppressive heat Tyson suggests going even further out into the barren region. Swerving to avoid a wolf Tyson crashes his SUV into a deep ditch effectively destroying the car and dooming the quartet to an early grave. With limited water and resources survival appears unlikely. Adding to the stress Atheria appears to have a concussion from the accident and she is behaving peculiarly.


I'm gonna make you a star, baby!

Ah the predicament movie! I watched Frozen earlier a few weeks prior to this so it seems fitting that I would stumble upon Thirst, which is the exact opposite predicament. Like other predicament films you must buy into the set of circumstances/coincidences necessary for the victims to get into their predicament in the first place. In Thirst we are first shown the characters drinking tons of alcohol the night before, which would make them thirstier, of course. On the day of their trip they hang “Do not disturb” signs on their hotel room doors so the maids won’t rob them. This makes their disappearance even less detectable. Oh, their cell phones don’t receive signals, of course. You might also find yourself asking, “Why would they need to drive off the beaten path in the desert to take photographs, doesn’t it all look pretty much the same?” If you’re able to overlook all this silliness than you’re in for a marginal treat.


I've got a bad feeling about this

Sure it’s all ludicrous and derivative; you might want to watch it with a checklist so you can mark off the inevitable cliché’s; (1) campfire confessionals, check! (2) The blame game, check! (3) Long montages of our characters making it through yet another day, check! (4) Dehydrated hallucinations check! (5) Gross ‘solutions’ check! You get the idea. Despite its many shortcomings I enjoyed Thirst. I readily acknowledge that I have a heavy bias towards this sub-genre of horror and thus I tend to oversell these movies, but like a major car accident I just can’t look away.