Tagline: It’s been a hell of a day on the highway.
The highway in this long stretch of nowhere stretches for miles across a windy, barren landscape. The never-ending horizon seems to retreat the closer you get, and if a car broke down here it might take forever for someone to notice. In the midst of it, Officers Jack Bennett (Kent Harper) and Jim Conrad (French Stewart), sit dangerously bored and dreaming of the kind of glory that can only come with a serial killer or maniac on the loose.
By the time Federal Officers Elizabeth Anderson (Julia Ormond) and Sam Hallaway (Bill Pullman) arrive the next day, a string of violent murders does in fact appear to be plaguing the lonely road. The police are straining at the bit to get back out and apprehend the murderers, but the Feds work differently. In order to uncover the truth of the case, Anderson and Hallaway first have to take their witnesses back-back to what happened when their lives intersected. A few details slowly emerge: Officers Bennett and Conrad were checking the horizon for speeders. Bobbi (Pell James) and Johnny (Mac Miller) were in the cherry Duster, tearing the highway up and having fun.
Little Stephanie’s (Ryan Simpkins) family station wagon was cruising too, with her mom and new step-dad busy singing in the front seat and her brother David next to her in the back. The problem was, as Stephanie saw it, that adults never listen to little kids, no matter how many times she tried to tell them what she saw out the window. Perhaps if they had, it all would have turned out differently. As the Feds slowly expose the fragile little details each witness conceals so carefully with a well practiced lie, the `truth’ they are looking for starts to extract an enormous price no one expected.
Read the Full Production Notes
Surveillance
Starring: Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins, French Stewart, Kent Harper, Michael Ironside
Directed by: Jennifer Chambers Lynch
Screenplay by: Jennifer Chambers Lynch, Kent Harper
Release Date: June 26th, 2009
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language, some drug use and a scene of aberrant sexuality.
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $27,349 (2.7%)
Foreign: $974,522 (97.3%)
Total: $1,001,871 (Worldwide)