While She Was Out

While She Was Out
theatrical poster
Directed by	Susan Montford
Written by	Susan Montford (screenplay) Edward Bryant (short story)
Produced by	Mary Aloe Don Murphy Kirk Shaw
Starring	Kim Basinger Lukas Haas
Edited by	William M. Anderson
Music by	Paul Haslinger
Distributed by	Anchor Bay Entertainment
Release date	(limited) 12 December 2008 (US)
Running time	88 minutes
Countries	United States Germany Canada
Language	English
Budget	$6,000,000 (estimated)

While She Was Out is a 2008 American thriller film starring Kim Basinger and Lukas Haas. Basinger plays a suburban housewife who is forced to fend for herself when she becomes stranded in a desolate forest with four murderous thugs. It was written and directed by film producer Susan Montford based on a short story by Edward Bryant. The film was produced by Mary Aloe and Don Murphy. Its executive producers included Guillermo del Toro and Basinger. The film was shot in 2006 and had a very limited release in 5 theaters in Texas during 2008.

Plot

On Christmas Eve, suburban housewife Della Myers (Kim Basinger) gets into an argument with her husband Kenneth (Craig Sheffer). After putting her two children to bed, she drives to the mall to buy some wrapping paper. At the mall, she can't find a parking space and angrily leaves a note on the window of a car that is parked using up two parking spaces. By the time she finishes her purchase, the parking lot is nearly deserted, and the note is gone from the car. As she enters her own car, the car on which she had left the note pulls up behind her.

She confronts the car, and four kids emerge—Huey (Jamie Starr), Vingh (Leonard Wu), and Tomás (Luis Chávez)—led by Chuckie (Lukas Haas). A security guard intervenes but is shot by Chuckie in the ensuing standoff. As the gang realizes that they have committed a murder, Della manages to start her car and drive away. They follow her, intending to kill her as she is the only witness. She crashes her truck in a development area nearby a forest. She takes a road flare and a toolbox out of the car and hides behind a dredger.

Della runs through the buildings under construction as they search for her. After some hide and seek the guys corner and threaten her using the documents they found in her car. As they have her open the toolbox she throws a wrench at Chuckie and escapes again. Chasing her Tomás jumps upon Huey, who falls and breaks his neck.

After some hide and seek in the woods, Della beats and finally kills Tomás with a lug wrench. She flees through a creek, pursued by Chuckie and Vingh. Della sneaks up on Vingh and kills him with a screwdriver and hides behind a fallen tree. Chuckie tries to persuade Della; he talks about her kids, saying that he is going to pay them a visit. He tells her what he thinks of her, that she lives a boring life she doesn't want, mistreated by her husband. He finds her, touches, and teases her face. She holds his hand, pulls him down and they kiss. He draws his weapon as they engage in foreplay. She tells him to fuck her, and as he is distracted she ignites the road flare and blinds him, takes his weapon, and kills him.

Della returns home, her husband Kenneth complains, that she was out late and is tracking mud throughout the house, but Della ignores him. She goes upstairs to check on her children who are both sleeping. The drunk Kenneth asks what she brought him from the mall, she points the gun at him and says: "Nothing."

Cast

• Kim Basinger as Della
• Lukas Haas as Chuckie
• Craig Sheffer as Kenneth
• Jamie Starr as Huey
• Leonard Wu as Vingh
• Luis Chávez as Tomás
• Luke Gair as Terri
• Erika-Shaye Gair as Tammi

Release and reception

The film received a limited U.S. theatrical release via Anchor Bay. It was released directly to video in the United Kingdom.

It was not widely reviewed. According to the L.A. Weekly, it is a "surprisingly enjoyable female revenge tale", describing Basinger's performance as "first-rate" despite "a laughably check-listed, multi-culti band of thugs". The New York Observer called it "ultra-feminist fun" with a "spectacular" ending. Ain't It Cool News called Basinger's performance "Her best in years." Bitch magazine wrote that the film "has an ample amount of cheezy genre conventions, problems with pacing, a gaggle of silly villains, huge plot holes and bad production values" but is "really rather fascinating - and notable - as a horror/thriller that actually gives a damn about the female character it puts in harm's way." However, the L.A. Times said it of "eschews all plot and character development for the hackneyed action scenes and grade-Z dialogue", and Filmcritic.com's review said that its "dialogue is somewhere between kindergarten and film school."

References

Notes

External links

• While She Was Out
• While She Was Out at IMDb