Okay, this film might owe a small debt to John Carpenter's 1982 version of 'The Thing' but it has its own quirky identity, so it succeeds as a film in its own right, with enough originality and invention to keep it moving along nicely throughout its relatively short running time of 80 minutes.
The plot is simple enough. A young couple on an anniversary camping trip, are taken hostage by another couple who are on the run, and desperately trying to reach the Mexican border. However when they stop off at a Gas Station, they all find themselves hostages to a flesh eating parasitic creature.
One of the real joys of the film is watching the small group working out what makes the creature tick, and their increasingly inventive methods in combating its menace. I also liked the way they used their strengths to work as a team to try to survive the situation they found themselves in. The characters were well developed, and I genuinly cared about their fates. It was nice that they didnt just run round like headless chickens shouting 'We're all going to die!'. Finally, a special mention must go to the wonderful creature effects, nothing too showy or ridiculous, but brilliant all the same.
So all in all, a very enjoyable little horror film, that uses its claustrophobic setting to great effect, and it really bodes very well for director Toby Wilkins' future efforts. 4 out of 5