Now on the verge of starting their own families, Donnie and Stacey (Stockman and Connolly) know that their parents Darcy and Bob (Allen and LaPaglia) have created something rare: a good marriage with the spark of romance still burning. Then one day when Bob is away on business, Darcy makes a startling discovery in the garage that links Bob to a series of vicious murders in the area. She decides to wait until after Stacey's wedding to do anything about this, but Bob works out that she knows and confronts her, promising to stop.

The plot continually ramps up the stakes. Of course, discovering you're married to a serial killer does things to you and, as Darcy's mind begins to slip, filmmaker Askin deploys several clever touches to draw the audience into her dilemma, from sweat-inducing dreams to horrific fantasies straight out of a Stephen King novel. It's haunting and slickly well made, packed with realistically earthy emotion, humour and sexuality.

It's also full of layered performances, anchored by Allen's vivid depiction of Darcy's disorientation and steely resolve. Her thoughts are unsettling, messy, worrying and thoroughly involving, which ramps up the tension exponentially when she has opportunity to take matters into her own hands. Opposite her, LaPaglia nicely combines menace with genuine likability and reliability. And Lang lurks around the edge, a world-weary investigator who's the only other person in on their secret.

Through all of this, King's script and Askin's direction hint that all of this might be a red herring; perhaps Darcy has deeper reasons to doubt Bob's character, and she just needs a big excuse to abandon their long history as well as their future together. But the film never quite grapples with these ideas, which might have added an edgy layer of emotional resonance underneath the obvious chills. Thankfully, the story is unnerving enough to keep the audience squirming in their seats right through a series of grisly final twists.

themes, language, violence, sexuality

2.Oct.14