Based on the novel by Jack Ketchum
(an excerpt from the novel recently appeared in THE OUTLAW BIBLE OF AMERICAN LITERATURE alongside excerpts from other writers such as William Burroughs, Hunter S Thompson, Jack Kerouac and Henry Miller)

The Film
Sparta, California – a rural town. Pretty boy Ray Pye (19) is hanging out at the campgrounds one day, drinking with his girlfriend, Jen Fitch, and best buddy, Tim Bess (both 16). Tim and Jen are shocked when Ray murders two campers purely on a whim. Due to the simultaneous fear and respect they have toward Ray, Tim and Jen agree to keep quiet about the murders.

Four years later, Ray has not been charged with the crime. Jen and Tim are still his devoted lackeys – Tim even helps Ray sell drugs, taking most of the risk but little of the profit.

Detective Charlie Schilling and his retired partner, Ed Anderson, are convinced of Ray’s guilt. They just have never been able to prove it. Charlie has had enough and decides he will finally bust Ray, even if he has to go outside the law to do it.

Meanwhile, Ray is at the top of his game. He lives and works at the motel owned by his mother. He routinely has multiple relationships with teenage girls in town. He fancies himself a real Casanova, believing he can get any girl he wants. Then two new girls come into Ray’s life at about the same time. Katherine Wallace (17) is a bad girl who’s mildly interested in Ray. Sally Richmond (18) is a sweet and tough young woman who gets a job at the motel, but blows Ray off every time he comes onto her. Turns out that Sally is also having a secret affair with retired cop, Ed (who is 60). Ed is horrified when he learns that Sally is working at the motel. He tries to convince her to quit, warning her about Ray, but she laughs him off. That is, until Ray nearly becomes violent with her after she rejects his advances yet again. She quits the job.

Charlie begins to make Ray nervous when he starts showing up at the motel, asking Ray lots of questions about the murders. Charlie even busts up a party Ray throws one night. Ray flies into a rage after this and trashes his own apartment. Jen tries to calm him down, but he kicks her out, threatening her with violence. Alone, Ray soothes himself by putting on make-up and admiring himself in the mirror.

As secret revenge, Jen goes and sleeps with Tim. Tim confesses his own secret to Jen – he’s been skimming from Ray’s drug supply for years now.

After a couple dates, Ray becomes fixated on Katherine. So much so, that he confesses the murders to her. Having her own dark side, Katherine is intrigued by this confession. It seems to be the start of a dangerous new relationship until Katherine’s mother suddenly dies. This loss snaps Katherine back to reality. She tells Ray that she’s through with him. Ray is devastated.

Meanwhile, Charlie has been pushing Tim and Jen, trying to get them to crack and give him some information about Ray’s involvement with the murders. He works hard at trying to get the three friends to turn on each other. He doesn’t get any confessions, but Charlie succeeds in breaking the trust between Ray, Jen, and Tim. 

Jen finally stands up for herself and dumps Ray. Ray snaps and is about to hit Jen when his mother steps in, humiliating him. Then he goes and sees Tim. Turns out that Ray has known all along that Tim has been skimming the drugs on him. But surprisingly, Ray doesn’t do anything to Tim. His rage is focused on the women who he thinks have done him wrong: Katherine, Jen, Sally, and his mother.

Ray shoots his mother and kidnaps Jen, Sally, and Katherine before Ed and Charlie even realize anything is going on. He takes them to an isolated cabin in the mountains – a place he and Tim once ran away to when they were kids. Ed and Charlie desperately question Tim at the police station, trying to figure out where Ray would go with the girls. Upon arriving at the cabin, Ray is outraged to find that it is occupied by a young married couple. He begins to get violent. At the police station, Tim remembers the cabin. He tells Ed and Charlie about it. The cops take off for the cabin, but it’s too late. Ray has started shooting. By the time the cops get to the cabin, Ray has killed everyone.

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