There’s nothing like a Friday the 13th for survival film releases. 2015 is a rare year in that we’ll have three such Fridays, so if you squandered February and March’s there is still time come November. This probably works in filmmaker’s favor in that we might just be in the mood for more thrillers, horrors, and harrowing survival tales this year. But demand or not these overdone genres need to step up their game if they are going to continue to keep viewers’ interest. October Gale, a somewhat weepy drama masked as a thriller, is not the model on which others should be going. With its undercooked plot and overly-sentimental back story the result is just another split-personality home invasion thriller minus the thrills.

Helen (Patricia Clarkson) returns to the cabin she and her recently deceased husband have had for years. He died a year ago in a storm on the lake that surrounds their island cabin and she returns to pack up his things. Their life together flashes back as she cleans—moments of intimacy and flirtation. She’s set to leave the cabin when her motorboat has engine trouble and she ends up stuck for a few days with only a smaller paddle boat. Her quiet cabin reverie is disrupted, however, when Will (Scott Speedman), a young man with a bullet wound in his shoulder, drags his way into her living room. She patches him up (she’s a doctor) and tries to get some answers out of him about his situation. He won’t tell her and they back and forth more than once about her wanting him gone while knowing they are on an island and with a storm brewing neither of their small boats would last.

When a local comes by to check on Helen, Will recognizes him as one of his assailants. Helen lets slip that she has an injured young man in her home and asks the man to take him to the mainland. When he bolts instead, untying her small boat, she realizes Will had reason to be scared of him. Now trapped together on the island, they anxiously await the return of Tom (Tim Roth), the man out to kill Will.

With the tone of the film split almost down the middle, director and writer Ruba Nadda (Cairo Time, also starring Clarkson) spends too much of the film focusing on Helen’s past with her husband, setting up her grief as an overwhelming element. Then she abandons this dreamy state too quickly when Will shows up with a new plot. Granted, as a savvy doctor and obviously strong-willed woman—she’s an ace with her rifle—Helen is well-prepared for the danger Will brings to her doorstep, but her interactions with Will almost negate the nostalgia so recently thrust on us. In an entirely misplaced scene she kisses Will, the confusion of her actions playing out on her face and literally mirroring the audience’s confusion as well. The implication that her grief could be overcome by some new romance—not to mention the strange fact of their age differences and whether or not Nadda intended this as some sort of statement against the usual older-male-younger-female dynamic—or that a distraction from her grief through life-threatening danger is also a good thing, all seems very naive. Her connection with her past is so overly developed that it only makes the lacking understanding of her fondness for Will more pronounced.

Clarkson and Speedman are two of those interesting Hollywood-vampire types, well-preserved and with dashing boyish/girlish type looks. Clarkson could act the heck out of an encyclopedia, her cleverness and subtlety always an engaging watch. She carries her badassness like a pro but is given very little opportunity to showcase it. Speedman is adorably likeable, almost to a fault—the hardness we’re supposed to believe around his back story just doesn’t add up in his demeanor.

Not to decry cinematographer Jeremy Benning’s work, but it’s not exactly difficult to turn on the rain machine, add some wind and make a situation seem dire. The cabin is cozy and the obvious safe haven of the film, which rather makes one wonder why so much of the film takes place inside it. Clearly the more unnerving locale would have been outside. But when it gets down to it, October Gale isn’t that harrowing at all. Tim Roth is underutilized as Will’s sadistic would-be-murderer and when his reasoning is revealed—in a highly yawn-worthy monologuing scene—any and all tension crumbles.

In some ways October Gale is a story of two people (Helen and Tom) dealing with their grief in two very different processes. But unfortunately the film forgets to draw that parallel and thereby add any level of depth. You’ll find more scares in Home Alone, not to mention more emotional connection. Clarkson and Speedman showcase both their talents, but neither can be a life vest for a film lost in its own storm.

Andrew Fleming’s Barefoot falls short of being both an intriguing and emotionally moving film.  Coming from a director credited for cult classics such as The Craft and Dick, I had a level of expectation for this film, which by the end of the 90 minutes was not met. Barefoot left much to be desired. While it has some of the essential ingredients to be a perfect indie rom-com; a spoonful of  Evan Rachel Wood‘s kewpie, doe-eyed, Daisy, and a dose of ne’er-do-well bad boy with striking good looks, Jay, played by Scott Speedman, the film lacks the spark necessary to really label it a success. The pair is brought together through a seemingly subtle twist of fate; Jay owes some very “bad” people a lot of money and needs to charm his father (Treat Williams) into giving him the necessary funds to repay the debt. What better opportunity to ask for the loan then his brother’s upcoming wedding in New Orleans.

In order to do so he needs to convince his father that he has cleaned up his act and is ready to settle down. How do you convince your parents that you’re ready to settle down? With a serious girlfriend, of course. Unable to find a suitable stand-in girlfriend from among his stripper acquaintances, Jay finally settles on heading to the wedding on his own, until one evening when he rescues Daisy at the mental institution where he works as a janitor. Daisy is beautiful and upon seeing her, Jay feels that she would be the perfect candidate for his plan . There is a catch, Daisy is a patient at the mental institution. Once Daisy follows him and sneaks out of the hospital, Jay has no choice but to take her under his wing as they embark on a roller coaster of an adventure across the country.

Throughout the course of their journey together, Daisy reveals that she is not like most girls, having been raised by an overprotective mother who kept her sheltered from the outside world for much of her life; she has grown up lacking the social skills and worldliness necessary to get by in society. I am a fan of Wood’s previous work, think Thirteen, Across the Universe and even recent indie rom-com A Case of You alongside Justin Long. However, Wood portrays Daisy’s childlike nature with such overemphasis that it is difficult to believe the naiveté in her actions as she experiences many firsts–her first time flying on a plane; her first time drinking champagne; her first time on a roller coaster. Her behavior comes across as trite, and insincere. Speedman has an easier time portraying Jay, though only because there really is not much to his character. Displays of cliché bad boy behavior are present–a one night stand, gambling issues, visits to the strip club and of course the presence of the gangsters to whom he owes the debt, as mentioned in the outset. The various cliches of the film are so blatant throughout that their obvious emotional responses seem almost dictated. But they result in only general detachment.

The characters and the storyline are underdeveloped which result in the lack of any emotional connection to either of the protagonists, or even an understanding of their connection. As much as the director is telling me to root for them to be together, and as much as I would like to believe that Daisy is just the change Jay needs to turn his aimless life around, it’s all just wishful thinking.

Barefoot trailer