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There are a lot of stereotypes that come to mind when one thinks of the Appalachians. Good or bad, ideas like individualism, private property, and limited government generally swing to the extreme when it comes to the rough and ready people who live alongside the wild trails. Sometimes, like Winter’s Bone achieved, filmmakers strike the right balance between stereotypes and truth.
And that’s EXACTLY what Devil To Pay achieves in its haunting runtime.
Devil To Pay, the new film from the writers of Becky and starring The Haves and the Have Nots’ Danielle Deadwyler (who is ON FIRE throughout this film), brings a deadly reckoning to the ridgelines soaked in the mist as it becomes clear that you should probably not mess with anybody named Lemon. Even the hardest heart of them all knows that there will be Hell to pay.
The people in the Appalachians might have once come to escape justice, but Lemon Cassidy (Deadwyler), who lives with her husband and her son on a small farm here, is dishing it out aplenty. It smells a lot like revenge and, trust me, after going through what she goes through in this violent and economical thriller, you would be doing the same, too.
This is the land of myth and, buried up here in the mountains, is a lot of shit and trouble that you probably don’t want to be stirring up ANYTHING in. From backwoods cults to community politics and age old truces, The Devil To Pay wraps it all up in a neat little bundle that will scare the shit right out of you with its violent ferocity as Lemon, pushed to the breaking point, learns how to fight back . . . with a vengeance.
Labeled as expendable upon raising all sorts of holy hell when her husband goes missing, Lemon is not going to take things sitting down. She’s bringing the fight to the pan-fried fed Runion clan, especially when Wade and Dixon (Jayson Warner Smith and Brad Carter) Runion walk right up to her front door and tell her that her son is not to be of her concern, unless she doesn’t get a debt paid to the hymn humming Tommy Runion (Catherine Dyer).
So begins a journey straight into the dark heart of Americana as Lemon - powered by a mother’s love - agrees to supply a cult with their addiction and do all sorts of dirty deeds in order to find herself on the other side of husband’s choices. This is backwoods badassery and it is delivered here in Devil To Pay with a lean eloquence that is unmatched as she has to pay her husband’s debt to the oldest family on the mountain and their murderous biscuit-making matriarch in order to save her young son’s life. Armed with only her wits and tenacity, Lemon must unravel the mysteries her husband left behind or lose everything she’s ever loved.
Co-starring Luce Rains, Adam Boyer, Charles Black, Parisa Johnston, Tim Habeger, and Ezra Haslam, Devil To Pay arrives in drive-in theaters on October 2 and will be available On Demand via Uncork’d Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures on October 6.
This white-knuckled revenge thriller should NOT be missed.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 87 mins
Director: Lane Skye, Ruckus Skye
Writer: Lane Skye, Ruckus Skye
Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Catherine Dyer, Jayson Warner Smith
Genre: Thriller
Tagline: They started a war, she brought a reckoning.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Find your husband, or return what's mine."
Theatrical Distributor: Uncork'd Entertainment
Official Site: https://www.thehustle.movie/
Release Date: October 2, 2020
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: After the disappearance of her husband, Lemon, a struggling farmer in an isolated Appalachian community, must repay her husband’s debt to the oldest family on the mountain and their murderous biscuit-making matriarch in order to save her young son’s life. Armed with only her wits and tenacity, Lemon must unravel the mysteries her husband left behind or lose everything she’s ever loved.
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