A Hard Place (2025)


REVIEWER RATING: 
2/10

DIRECTOR:

CAST:


This isn’t your typical creature feature film.

No. It’s so much worse.  

A Hard Place begins with a bloody zombie invasion upon a handful of people which was pleasantly engaging, especially when seeing Glenn Plummer make an appearance. Unfortunately, that was short lived. Not because he was attacked by the walking dead but more so when Bai Ling came onscreen and does what she does best.

Spoil a scene.  

Sticking with the apocalypse, it became evident that I was watching a movie within a movie…which isn’t such a bad twist to foreshadow upcoming events later on in the story’s progression.  

Now we see a bunch of normalized criminals kill off staff at a drive-thru, snagging a prized case before going on the run to stay off the grid and hunker down until they are in the clear. As one member of this gang guides them into the wilderness to lay low on farming property, the residents are not very happy on their arrival.  

Very shortly afterwards, the newbies encounter “plant people” – grotesquely deformed mutants that indiscriminately strike out in hungry anger. Yes, these deviants are extremely hangry and without a snickers bar in sight, everyone scrambles and starts shooting aimlessly.

While additional townies join in on the fun, the unwanted visitors soon disperse and leave the remaining folks to discuss in very puzzling and disjointed verbiage, what just happened. I, myself am still wondering what the fuck just happened.  

As the overacting and mindless queries drag on, the leader of the land Henrietta (or “ma”) finally steps up with commands to savagely protect their own at the cost of newcomers if necessary. Felissa Rose’s Henrietta is like watching Carolyn Ingalls on speed – viciously delightful and undercutting all that stands in her way. However, there’s no avoiding the stereotypical hillbilly mentality of dimwittedness during battle, or even at the dinner table.  

Once the ancient tale of guardians vs caretakers come to light, the overcomplicated creation of all these monsters amongst the several humans still lingering around doesn’t provide a source of explanation to the archaic feud. It only added to the absurdity of additional clichés and tiresome kills. I mean, if you’ve seen one bloody massacre, you’ve seen them all right?

Sorry, was that too trite?

OVERALL: 
A Hard Place is hard to watch. Not because of any depravity or disturbing images but because of the sheer ludicrousness. What may have worked on paper did not execute well onscreen as is proven through outlandish performances and unclear narratives. The gooey, fleshy sounds from disembowelments and smashed-in skulls get old when there’s no pay-off in the end. I can handle extreme gore, but when it’s excessively gruesome just for shock value, my yawns take over and I’m looking for the stop button. At the very least, I expected to learn what was in the stolen case. Instead, I was left with a Pulp Fiction moment of frustration.


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