warn represent this review contain spoiler an honest life end in a peaceful death proverb . beneath be a horror flick release straight to video and mark the directorial debut of dagen merrill and co write with kevin burke ( who also write 2003 tahiti and an indie drama that earn some critical praise ) . christy wescot ( nora zehetner and brick ) be a 20 year old pre med student who can not fully live her own life since her old sister vanessa ( carly pope and sandra go to whistler ) be kill in a car accident six year earlier and in which christy be drive . give me the wheel . christy . could have be the last word she remembers from her sister and who be also a young mother and the wife of john locke ( matthew settle ) and a local doctor in the town of edgemont . the sudden death of family caretaker joseph ( don s. davis ) prompt a phone call from john to christy inform her that the funeral service will be hold next saturday . this phone call release the latent anxiety christy have be suppress for the past six year . so when christy jump aboard a bus and she already be fire from her job and be in need of antidepressant for a diagnosed borderline personality disorder spur by her guilt over her sister injury . why do you go away . her niece amy ( jessica amlee ) ask her . christy sardonically reply and i go to prep school ( university of south california ) . now christy niece life in the locke family home with dad and her grandma and the ominous mrs. locke ( gabrielle rise ) and whom her cute red haired granddaughter call a weirdo and and she be indeed and since she disappear from the dinner table and prefers to eat alone in her place . amy be convince a dark and mysterious thing kill good ol joseph and that grandma be mean and secretive . nora zehetner maintain a mesmerize tension from the very begin . when she contemplate her arrival home to the small town from which she be disconnect for a long time but have never sever her tie to and she do an awe inspire job of convey christy conflicting emotion . and this be one of the main reason the film succeed and because it plot device rely basically on our empathy for the lead character . there be moment that a a viewer we can notice the story would dry up if christy couldn not find a new clue and a new clear thought and an accusatory gaze from some of the townspeople who have become stranger to her . she find it difficult to reconnect with a junior high school friend and debbie houston ( nicola anderson ) and the townsfolk try to make her move on . christy must not only hide the pain of her lonely existence and the hallucination that plague her and she also have to face the humiliation of condescend treatment from the neighbour and nurse and and cop around her while though one of them and jeff burdan ( warren christie ) and be pretty kind to her and his cop pal randy ( patrick gilmore ) make a cruel remark before be introduce to christy . christy investigate some circumstance that occur during the six month of rehabilitation that vanessa receive in locke home immediately after the accident and a losing battle against a certain death . christy find out this rehabilitation take place in a room beneath locke house where vanessa be attend by a nurse name claire well ( eliza norbury ) whom supposedly leave town and move to portland and maine . christy also investigate the detail about vanessa burial and as well a her medical file ( which be now in private access for john locke ) and all the while succumb to near psychotic state when she suffer random seizure that lead her to draw darkly artistic portrait of people and threaten symbol . the laid back manner of the townspeople grate on christy nerve a they stubbornly deny her suspicion regard her sister death . christy be constantly perceive a an unstable and meddle girl and which fit these simple mind local struggle in a post mining economy rule by locke dynasty . but a another character say to christy at the beginning of the story and death be always hardest on the living . and this obsession with her sister death make the heroine lunatic mind spin frantically like a profaned coffin . it live in my wall . i hear it cry . i take picture cause i can not draw and amy say . passageway design for escape the mine and locked entrance and insect plague basement will confuse u as much a they confuse christy in her confused mental state while the film be soak with the romantic and timeless beauty of nora zehetner and whose performance a an isolated young woman with a precipitous imagination elicit our innate sympathy and conquers our heart in the end . zehetner poe like heroine maybe be a paraphrenic without love life but she the last voice stand against the apathy and lack of conscience that the town represent . christy awaken our sedated moral and defend her right to unmask her tortured soul and a beautiful and vulnerable but never weak and miss lonely in the land of guilt . http represent or or jake weird . blogspot . com/2007/08 or beneath . html .