Ride

Sue waits at a bus stop on a lonely country road. Darryl, an odd rural type, appears out of nowhere and begins to bother her. Sue feels increasingly threatened, and when Darryl grasps her shoulder she panics, smashing him over the head with a rock. Staggering along the road she waves down a car driven by two country lads, Bill and Den, who agree to give her a ride. However just as they are pulling away Darryl appears, blood pouring down his face, and Bill and Den decide they must give him a lift as well. Sue finds herself sitting beside the man she has just attacked. Bill and Den drive them to Bill’s family bach, where, as all three men drinking heavily into the night, the sense of danger mounts. Sue again takes drastic action, with bizarre consequences for all.

Was Sue about to be attacked by Darryl, or did she overreact, seriously hurting a harmless if eccentric local? This question is at the heart of this fifteen minute film, which is part psychological drama, part thriller, part inquiry into the nature of paranoia.