[Film Review] Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021)

While ghost stories, possessions, and acts of supernatural wrath might dominate the horror genre, there’s something especially chilling about films that explore one of the most sinister villains of them all: the cruelty of man.  Director Randall Emmett’s crime thriller Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021) revisits the story of one of Texas’ most infamous serial predators, Robert Benjamin Rhodes, and the dramatization of those who eventually stopped him.

After moving the story to Florida, the film follows Officer Byron Crawford (Emile Hirsch) and FBI agents Rebecca Lombardi (Megan Fox) and Karl Helter (Bruce Willis) as their paths cross while trying to protect the innocent women of western Florida. Although they may not realize it, their investigation into the deaths of local sex workers will mean coming face-to-face with one of the most infamous serial killers in United States’ history.

Robert Benjamin Rhodes, also known as the Truck Stop Killer, hunted hitchhikers and sex workers for roughly 15-years. Beginning in the 70s, he’s allegedly responsible for the sexual assault and murder of over 50 women and is currently serving a life sentence. Rhodes, renamed Peter, is played by Lukas Haas, who brings an eerie charisma to the role. Although there is an unsettling nature to the initial kindness he shows his victims to lure them into his truck, Haas is able to portray a convincing show of compassion - even though it’s just a ploy. 

Emmett utilizes the typical crime thriller stylization, composed of high-contrast lighting, quick cuts during action sequences, and relatively basic camera work. There are only a handful of meaningful or interesting locations, which doesn’t lead to many impactful sequences for such an exposition-heavy film. The physical performances are confusing at best, especially from a cast that’s supposed to portray highly-trained law enforcement. The fight choreography is almost laughably bad between Fox and Machine Gun Kelly - who began dating after meeting on set. Still, the film seems to be aware that one of it’s biggest selling points is the casting of Megan Fox, who is always lit beautifully. No one can complain about watching Megan Fox be gorgeous for 99-minutes.

For the most part the visuals are lackluster, and unfortunately the writing doesn’t seem to make up for it. Nothing really happens for most of the film, which consists of stereotypical cop-drama exposition like montages of looking through stacks of paperwork, arguing about family trauma at a diner, or walking around crime scenes without actually looking at anything. While it’s obvious an attempt was made to flesh out each character by introducing a dark backstory or a nameless family, none of the characters really have any emotional resonance. 

The best way to describe Midnight in the Switchgrass’s writing is that it’s safe. It’s the kind of film you’d expect to see as a Netflix original or premiering on Lifetime. It never crosses the line into something that could actually scare audiences because it fails to ever properly build enough tension to evoke any sort of emotional response. A film doesn’t have to include scenes of gratuitous violence to make an impact, but there doesn’t even seem to be an attempt made to make Peter seem threatening. There are episodes of Law and Order that capture tension better than this big-budget Hollywood film. Even the cast acknowledges the poor quality of the film with actors like Machine Gun Kelly claiming to not talk about it, “because it’s trash.” 

The true crime community has taken over the Internet and become a household interest, which is why it makes sense that so many subpar crime thrillers seem to be popping up across streaming services and theaters. Still, it’s disappointing and almost seems exploitative to use the stories of real-life victims to make a poorly-executed, made-for-television excuse of a thriller. It’s become increasingly obvious after the continued critical pan of all Ted Bundy-related media that the horror industry is ready to move from these cheap true crime dramatizations. I’d still watch anything Megan Fox is in, even if it’s bad.

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