A new preacher upsets a small town in The Quarry, the latest from co-writer and director Scott Teems.
Now, you may expect a preacher to rattle a few cages with moral lessons, but that’s not what’s happening here. This preacher has other things up his sleeve because he’s not actually a preacher. He killed the real one and assumed his name and job, and while the rest of the town trusts the impostor implicitly, the local police chief can tell something is off. It’s a stalemate between town leaders, and it threatens to blow up everyone’s peaceful existence.
It’s a good old-fashioned crime thriller from Teems, who has a couple of small features under his belt, but his most intriguing credit is writing and directing for the TV series Rectify. That is low-key one of the best series of the last decade, a languid take on a man and his family trying to put their lives back together after the man’s death sentence is overturned. It’s such a delicate piece that anyone who worked on it instantly has my attention, including Teems.
The Quarry also has the intrigue of a good Michael Shannon role, who plays the incredulous police chief. The great Shea Whigham is his adversary as the mystery “preacher”, and Catalina Sandino Moreno co-stars as a woman deeply involved in the church.
The film was supposed to premiere at SXSW, but obviously that didn’t happen. It’s now being released in those few operating drive-ins and on VOD, giving you a chance to satiate your crime thriller appetite.
The Quarry is directed by Scott Teems and stars Shea Whigham, Michael Shannon, and Catalina Sandino Moreno. It will be released in the US on VOD on April 17th, 2020. Further release dates are not currently known.
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