Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Downrange'

Written by Scott Edwards

There can no better time in your life than taking a road trip with your friends. While life can keep us apart for different reasons, cramming into a car for a long drive can give you that well-deserved time to catch up. This is even better if you are not the best of friends yet, since you get to find out so much more about someone sitting next to you. As long as it is all good conversation and laughs along the way, these trips can go down in your memories as some of the best times of your life.
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Driving home in the middle of nowhere, Todd is shocked when one of the tires on his SUV blows out. Getting everyone out of the SUV and checking the damage, the group sees that their new friend Jodi has banged her head pretty bad. Keeping her out of the sun, the men, Todd, Eric and Jeff are tasked with changing the tire out, which none of them has done before. With some fun banter between the women, Karen and Sara, they know that the tire will not be changed in the time table provided, so they take a seat behind the SUV, in the shade, and they are hopeful that the tire will be changed soon.

While being able to get some of the lug nuts off, Jeff takes the lead in changing the tire, but spots something on the ground that is out of place. Before being able to alert the group to the possible trouble they are in for, he is silenced. Wanting to get the show back on the road, Sara heads over to see how everything is going and sees the gore that will becomes the group’s reality. After taking a leak in the middle of the road and seeing that the spare tire is rolling away, Todd is the first to be able to alert the group that there is something deadly happening on this road and retreats behind the SUV. As rifle shots rain down on the group, they need to find some sort of way to get help before they become the next target. 

Listening to the shots and noting that it is an older rifle that the shooter is using, Karen knows that they have some protection behind the SUV, but with the shooter being extremely skilled, they will not be going anywhere for a while. With very spotty cell phone service, the thought to drive the SUV up the hill to get service comes to mind, but the shooter has that part of the vehicle locked away from prying limbs. As ideas are thrown out and shot down, Karen, Todd, Eric and Jodi are in for a fight for their lives to survive a mysterious gunman’s wrath, at least until they are able to get another driver’s attention.

When I first saw the description of this movie, it sounded slightly familiar, but what played out on the screen was fresh and terrifying. When you see the first two deaths, along with how the characters were shot, well, you find out quickly that this movie is not going to pull any punches. While there was plenty of blood soaking on the road, there was something else that I did not expect and that was some pretty fun character development. Being able to relate with a character in a movie is something that does not happen as much as it used to, but Downrange, a SHUDDER Exclusive, does a darn good job with that. With an unknown killer, a tire blowout, a quiet road, a smart way to use a smart phone, a bottle of water, a wolf and a police encounter that will leave you wondering what they are going to do, this is just a fun overall movie. While I would have liked to get to know the killer a little better, I am okay with knowing nothing and drawing my own conclusions while the credits roll. Stay Scared.

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