Penny Dreadful (2007)

DVD

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""Hi. It's good to see you. Oh, what a nice car. Excuse me while I throw-up"."

This film is part of the first "8 Films to Die For", which overall disappointed me. I personally do not feel that they lived up to their "too graphic, disturbing, and shocking for general audiences" theme, but that's another story. Out of the 8, Penny Dreadful is one of the better ones.

Directed by Richard Brandes, this film stars Rachel Miner (The Black Dahlia) as Penny Deerborn, a teenager who has amaxophobia, a fear of cars. When she was a little girl, she was in a car accident in which both of her parents died. Since then, she refuses to drive or ride in one.

Mimi Rogers (The Door in the Floor) plays Orianna Wells, Penny's therapist of six months. Orianna tells Penny that in order to conquer her fear, she must face it; therefore she plans a trip where she and Penny drive to the site of the accident. Armed with her relaxation tapes, a stres ball, and a bottle of Valium, Penny anxiously agrees.

Along the way they stop at a gas station. Fans of the original Hills Have Eyes (Wes Craven) will see Michael Berryman, who still looks creepy even today.

While driving, Orianna is lecturing Penny about the Valium (apparently she did not prescribe it). She accidentally hits a hitchhiker. Feeling guilty, she offers the person a ride. This is where the terror begins.

Without giving away anymore storyline, Penny finds herself trapped in the car between two trees, unable to get out, while the hitchhiker (an escaped mental patient) terrorizes her.

There are plenty of scares, and Rachel does an excellent job. Her body and eye movements are believable, and you can truly feel her anxiety.

The visuals were at times hard to see, since alot of the film takes place at night inside a car, and in the mountains. But overall, this is a good movie worth watching.