10 Mean Films For Mean Times

When aspiring rocker Franki (Marc Senter) realizes he’s contracted HIV from the promiscuous Erica (Amanda Fuller), he snaps and kidnaps her, little realizing that she has a platonic friendship with Nate (Noah Taylor), an Iraq War veteran skilled in interrogation.

Billed as a “slacker revenge movie”, Red White & Blue is a deceptively simple tale about three very different people and how their choices result in escalating violence. It’s so low-key that once the story takes hold, you don’t notice how economical Simon Rumley’s script and direction are or how perfectly cast the movie is, a true sign of high-quality filmmaking.

Released in the same year as the Elm Street remake, Red, White And Blue would, in a fair world, have blown that turkey out of the water and bagged a few awards in the process. After playing a few festivals, it disappeared before eventually resurfacing on DVD with absolutely no fanfare whatsoever – the critics were too busy gushing over Paranormal Activity and Insidious to notice.