Unhinged is a 2020 thriller directed by Derrick Borte, written by Carl Ellsworth, the same writer behind Disturbia and Red Eye. So if you know those films, you already know the kind of tight, single-premise tension this one is going for. It follows Rachel Flynn (Caren Pistorius), a single mom already having the worst morning of her life, and Tom Cooper (Russell Crowe), the stranger who decides her horn honk at a red light is the final straw.
What starts as a road rage exchange spirals fast. Tom follows Rachel and her son home, and from there he doesn't stop. Not at her job, not at her lawyer's office, not at anyone she cares about. The film treats one bad interaction in traffic as the spark for a full day of escalating terror.
If you've seen Duel or The Hitcher, this one is chasing the same nerve. Same idea of an ordinary drive turning into a nightmare you can't shake off, just dressed up for a modern setting with a phone, a GPS, and a killer who knows exactly how to use both against you.
The Experience
The Highlights:
- Russell Crowe Is Deeply Unsettling. This is not some cartoonish villain you can laugh off. He plays it with a low burning rage that feels disturbingly believable, like a guy you could actually run into on the road.
- The Premise Hits Close to Home. That split second thought of "what kind of person is this?" during a road rage moment is something most of us have felt at some point. The film takes that exact feeling and pushes it to the most extreme place it can go.
- No Wasted Time. At 93 minutes, the runtime is tight and the pacing never lets up.
Fair Warning:
- The Supporting Cast Struggles to Keep Up. Whenever Crowe is off screen, the cracks start showing. Some of the supporting characters feel flat, and it becomes pretty obvious during the film's most intense moments.
- There's No Real Depth Here. This is a blunt instrument, plain and simple. If you need your thrillers to mean something deeper, you will walk away unsatisfied.
Final Verdict
My Rating: 7.3
Unhinged isn't trying to be a prestige thriller and it knows it. What it does do is make you tense, make you squirm, and make you check your mirrors on the drive home. Fun fact, this was the first wide theatrical release after theaters shut down in 2020, so there's a strange bit of movie history riding along with the road rage. Watch it for Crowe. Stay for the chaos.
Have you ever had a truly unsettling road rage encounter?
Drop your story in the comments, the more unhinged the better.
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