Synopsis: A mysterious and lonely young woman, Jax (Rakefet Abergel) is traveling through the expansive desert of the American West, in search of some tangible connection, a kindred spirit or like-minded soul with whom she can bond. When her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, her journey takes a dangerous turn, and we learn this seemingly sweet woman may not be who she seems at all. How far will she go for love? Will she make it out of the desert alive?

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I was drawn to this film by both the story and a short teaser that Rakefet had made. In the teaser, Rakefet appeared as a mysterious character who was clearly in pain, but also energized: she had a fierce hunger for human connection. It was clear she would go to great lengths to get what she needed. With such a compelling lead character, and a terrific story, the film was an exciting project to be involved in. I think Rakefet responded to my body of work, which includes both romantic comedies and horror films. And we were on the same page about how the film needed to be played.

At its heart, Jax is a mystery. Our unlikely heroine is in a dangerous situation and she needs figure out how to escape it. But all the while, we the audience can sense that something is wrong. Even as we root for Jax, we know we’re not being given the full story. As the audience pieces together what’s really going on, we come to understand Jax and her powerful need to connect to another human being in this cruel world.

The challenge of this film was to carefully dole out the information – just enough to keep the audience hooked, but not so much that we give away the mystery. The other challenge was shooting in the full desert sun in the dead of summer. But the cast and crew were amazing and they did great work in well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I hope audiences enjoy this thriller as much as we enjoyed making it.

Colin Campbell is a writer and director for theater and film. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his short film, Seraglio. Seraglio also won Deauville’s Grand Prix and ran on HBO. His recent short film, Girl At The Door, played at numerous festivals, and has received write-ups on Dread Central (“Brilliant”) and Brutal As Hell (“excellent escalating sense of unease… Campbell shows real flair”), and was nominated for a 2013 Fright Meter Ward. He directed the feature film Guido, starring Alki David, Billy Zane, Armand Assante, Gary Busey and Lupe Ontiveros, which premiered on FilmOn.com. His production of “The Ballad of Ricardo Flores Magon” at the Ford Theater was filmed and broadcast by KCET. His production of his play, Golden Prospects was nominated for five LA Weekly awards and was Critic’s Pick in TimeOut NY, LA Times and LA Weekly. His supernatural horror screenplay, Harrow Lake was chosen for Film Independent’s Screenwriters Lab and was optioned by Paranormal Media. His supernatural horror screenplay, The Hive, was optioned by Dean Goodhill. Colin regularly writes and directs for Instant Films, where he’s won Best Writer, Best Director and numerous Best Film Awards. He has taught Theater and/or Filmmaking at Loyola Marymount University, Cal Poly Pomona University, Relativity Education, and to incarcerated youth through The Unusual Suspects.

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