No Through Road is an extremely tense little thriller-slash-horror movie that's at turns scary, suspenseful and pretty gory and disturbing. It's kind of like a low-budget Australian update of Straw Dogs.
However, this time the nerdy guy who needs to find his inner barbarian is a mousy, reclusive amateur photographer who needs to protect a strange girl hiding in his bedroom closet. She claims she's just been raped, but the three thugs outside who want to have a "chat" with her claim she's involved in a drug plot. Of course, the outside creeps eventually find their way inside for a cat-and-mouse game that involves several sharp objects.
The film has a nice script that slowly builds the tension and deftly explains away all of the nagging implausibilities, such as giving the hero a good, solid reason to not automatically call the cops when he finds the girl. But the film really shines with giving us terrific characters to care about, especially in developing the villains who are grounded and realistic and not just cartoonish ruffians.
Read my full review at Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film.