Death Among the Pines (2025) Review
Death Among the Pines (2025) Review
One night during a heavy rainstorm, a stranded stranger knocks on the door of Angela’s country cottage, claiming his car has broken down. Angela warily lets him in to shelter but soon after, a police officer arrives, asking questions, amid conducting a manhunt for an escaped criminal. Angela puts two and two together, but is there more to it than meets the eye?
Starring Nicolette McKeown (Mercy Falls, Damaged), Nathan Shepka (Dead Before They Wake), Stephen Kerr (The Defender) and Olly Bassi (Dick Dynamite; 1944) with a script penned by award-winner Tom Jolliffe (Renegades, Cinderella’s Revenge) and produced by Gary Collinson (The Baby in the Basket). The film is Executive Produced by Emmy-winner Kira Reed, Nick Redmond, and Scrap’s Sanatan Kadakia.
From the team behind this year’s gothic chiller THE BABY IN THE BASKET, which I am a major fan of, comes the Hitchcock-inspired suspense thriller DEATH AMONG THE PINES. Co-written, directed and starring Nathan Shepka the film is primarily set in one location. It could very easily be adapted into a stage play, as it is effectively a chamber piece.
Shepka’s thriller starts of nice and tense and maintains that momentum throughout its short runtime, subtly revealing plot twists along the way. Both Shepka and Nicolette McKeown deliver excellent performances, which is just as well, as for the most part DEATH AMONG THE PINES is a two-hander between them both. The viewer is very aware from the offset that things are not as they seem on the surface, but they would be unlikely to guess exactly where this might be going. This is a more nuanced thriller than expected and all the better for it.
Link to buy or rent on Amazon US
