3 out of 5

Directed by: Gigi Saul Guerrero

While I know I’ve generally been kinder on the Into the Dark series than other reviewers – I’m preferring to view this stuff through a low budget, late nite, B-movie lens – I’ll still wholly admit that the average ranking on these is… average.  10 ‘episodes’ deep, and some general categories have emerged, with each category shifting from intriguing, to okay, to crap.  The craps are those that have tried to make a “point,” the creators then remembering after the fact that these are meant to be horror flicks, and so smushing some tropes on top of their messaging, generally with notably ill-fitting results.  The okay ones are a mix of under-budgeted and under-plotted, taking intriguing concepts that aren’t fleshed out enough for 90 minutes.  The better entries have been those that seem to look at the big picture and plan appropriately; you know, as you maybe should for any motion picture format, whether it’s a short, a TV show, or a movie.  Some of these successes have even managed to sneak in some other themes, but it’s never at the loss of the flick’s pacing or internal logic.

Culture Shock is one of the better entries, but it interestingly blends in some bits and pieces from those two other categories, featuring some messaging – though they save the most obvious bit for a post-credits stinger – and an idea that’s rather thinly applied, but co-writer and director Gigi Saul Guerrero keeps her movie moving the whole time, and very smartly centered around single mother Marisol, played with weighty realness by Martha Higareda.  Culture Shock is also committed the majority of the way through, which is a rarity for these Into the Darks: the conclusion succumbs to a random spot of gore, kinda just to meet a blood minimum, but Guerrero otherwise keeps an edge of tension and creep throughout; excepting that one shot, it never feels like we’re veering off the path ‘just because.’

Marisol is trying to cross the border from Mexico to US via coyote.  Her previous attempt was horrific, leaving her pregnant and broke, and Culture Shock, in its harrowing first half, depicting Marisol’s next attempt, doesn’t shy away from showing how awful the entire experience is, even when things are going “right.”  …Up to a point.  The crossing again goes awry, but in a wonderfully trippy way that has Marisol waking up, no longer pregnant, speaking English, cleaned and primly dressed, in a Pleasantville-esque American town.  Right away she gets that this is off, and Culture Shock has us sussing it out alongside her, as she meets the overly friendly town representative, Thomas (Shawn Ashmore, always a welcome face), and conspires with her fellow border-crosser Santo (Richard Cabral, sort of a go-to type for scary looking but friendly types lately).

The explanation is interesting, but in order to stick to a 90 minute runtime, Culture Shock has to skip to a concluding conflict, which ends up making the idea seem thinner than it had the potential to be.  Thankfully, the film’s momentum and the scripts focus on Marisol (and Higardea’s immersive performance) carry us well through that to the end credits.