With no A-list stars and a modest budget, David Twohy’s taut, palm-sweating thriller has two things going for it: it keeps you guessing and it doesn’t insult your intelligence. Set on the Hawaiian island of Kaui, where a nine-mile trail winds through the jungle to an idyllic beach, it’s kick-started by the news that a couple has killed some honeymooners.

We’re then introduced to nerdy, newlywed screenwriter Cliff (Steve Zahn) and his wide-eyed wife Cydney (Milla Jovovich), who upset tattooed hitchhiker Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and his cowed wife Cleo (Marley Shelton) when they refuse them a lift.

Also on the trail are yarn-spinning ex-soldier Nick (Timothy Oliphant) and his chatty Southern girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez), an outdoors gal capable of skinning a hunted goat. But can Cliff and Cydney trust them any more than the aggressive hitchhikers?And are they going to make it out alive?

As suspicion falls on each couple in turn, Twohy (Pitch Black) sustains the tension by constantly undermining our sense of certainty.
Nigel Floyd