Movie Review: Desperate Hours – Now playing in Theaters, on Digital, and On Demand

Available today On Demand, digital and in select theaters, is the heart pounding drama, The Desperate Hour.

The film stars a very limited cast (most of the cast is voice only), including Naomi Watts and Colton Gabbo.

Amy (Watts) is a widow raising two children – an adorable little girl named Emily (Sierra Maltby) and teenage son Noah (Gabbo). Since his father passed away in a car accident, Noah hasn’t been himself.

The day starts out rather typical. Noah doesn’t want to get out of bed to go to school. Amy opts to go for a run. When I say run, I mean she literally runs MILES into the wilderness.

While in the middle of nowhere, Amy finds out that there is an active shooter at the high school. Thinking he son is safe at home, Amy keeps running. That is until she finds out that Noah did go to school.

What transpires next is a mother’s frantic attempt to get to her son’s school, but she’s injured and stuck in the middle of no where, miles from any one or any place. She also does not have a vehicle to get to the school.

Then the worse happens. Amy is contacted by a detective, asking her questions about her son. Could Noah be the shooter? Amy needs to know, and she needs to get to the school as quickly as humanly possible.

To find out how it all plays out, go see (or rent) The Desperate Hour. Look for it at a theater near you, On Demand and digital.

I think this movie “hits home” with the way things have been in the news the past several years. It’s a scary world we live in, and school shooters are happening more and more. As a parent, there is nothing worse than knowing your child is caught inside a school with an active shooter, and not knowing if your child is dead or alive. It’s something that no parent should ever have to deal with.

When I was in school we didn’t have school shootings. The only thing we prepared for was bombs, having to stand in the hallway with our heads against the wall and our hands protecting the back of our necks. We had it easy compared to today’s students. I work in the school district, and even in our program we have to do emergency drills where we have to hide the children and practice with them by being VERY quiet.

Back to the movie.

I’m impressed that this film was done with very few actors. The film is about 80% Naomi Watts running through the woods and talking on the phone. It’s like a “one woman show.” She did an excellent job carrying this film. She played the part of a desperate mother exceptionally well. I think being a mom herself, I’m sure she channeled some of her own “mom feelings” into the role. I can only image she pretended it was her child in the same situation in real life.

Even though the through of a woman, all alone, running MILES deep into the woods by herself does seem very far fetched, the rest of the story (school shooting, a mom trying to find out where her son is…) is all too real.

I say this is heart-pounding because the movie keeps your interest from the start, and the closer she gets to finding out what is going on with her son, the more towards the edge of my seat I got.

For a film that I haven’t even seen marketed on television, this movie is really good. I would definetly watch it again.

Below is the film’s trailer for your enjoyment.

 

Kimberly

*I received a free screener in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.