This tortured tale of lust and revenge, a first film from New Zealand director Alison Maclean certainly has some good ideas. But Maclean fails to cement these with sufficient characterisation or motives for the actors involved. Marcia Gay Harden (then a rising star through her role in Miller's Crossing and her portrayal of Ava Gardner in the recent Frank Sinatra mini-series) is well cast as an American fish out of water in New Zealand, whose involvement with a local journalist leads to dark goings-on. While the film has major problems in the script department, Maclean proves a dab had at conjuring up an eerie mood of sexual tension. To judge from the thrilling first and final reels at least, she shows great promise.

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