Goodbye Honey Review: A Tense Indie Thriller

Release date: May 11, 2021
Running time: 97 minutes
Written and Directed By: Max Strand
Starring: Pamela Jayne Morgan, Juliette Alice Gobin, Paul C. Kelly, Rafe Soule

An isolated roadside stop leads to a night of suspense for a truck driver when a young woman appears seeking refuge after allegedly escaping her kidnapper.

Goodbye Honey is a well done indie film on a limited budget that does so much right.  The film starts intensely with a great performance by Gobin, who has to sell a lot of terror in a short time.  The film also has a good setup for an indie film, smartly setting the movie in an isolated campground to keep the budget down and a focus on the actors and the unknown.  And the acting is generally very good.  Morgan is grizzled and sympathetic as a truck driver thrown into an unusual and stressful situation.  And Gobin has flashes of brilliance as a strange but ultimately scared kid trying to escape.  The film mostly focuses on these two, again with a smart use of budget and setting, and their interactions as they learn more about each other and to trust each other are fun to see.  But what impressed me most about this movie is the camera work and cinematography.  The film uses good angles to tell the story while just keeping enough out of sight to make you fearful that something will happen just off screen.  And there is one sequence to show the passage of time and repetition that was masterfully shot.  It really drove home just how repetitive this time was and also the monotony and way that it could wear on you.  It was almost uncomfortable to watch, making you experience it just as Gobin's character did.  

However, Goodbye Honey does have some odd quirks that you'll have to get over before to really appreciate it.  For one, Gobin's initial introduction at the truck stop is a little rough.  Her character did not seem as concerned or panicked as I expected her to be, but I think that this was by design to keep the mystery level high.  And she felt very demanding, which I guess makes sense if you yourself are not sure of the other person's intentions, but it also just made her not very sympathetic.  Additionally, the film has several poor decisions by the characters that work to ratchet up the tension but also just seem unrealistic.  Characters lose items that conveniently force them to stay, or items break too easily that again make them isolated.  They are small things but ones that contribute to a manufactured feel to the terror.  And some third parties are introduced that just seem odd; their reason for being there was not fully explained and their ridiculous requests were also just an odd occurrence. And, as is common with budget indie films, the effects around the firearms are hit or miss.  But these minor things aside, Goodbye Honey is a fantastic first film by Strand with great performances, camera work, and sense of tension.  I cannot wait to see where this crew go from here!

Goodbye Honey is a fantastic first feature by Strand with great tension, camera work, and performances that make for an impressive indie horror film and nail biting rest stop. 

Rent it.

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Goodbye Honey is available digitally and on demand on May 11, 2021.  

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