The Ranger came out at a time that I didn’t have a subscription of Shudder. I kept up with the releases during this time so I saw when it was released. It seemed right up my alley when I saw it was a punk rock movie. I put off watching it because it got buried by a lot of other things coming out and because of the length of time between the release and now. I was reminded of it when I was covering Chattanooga Film Fest because I was able to catch the producer Heather Buckley in a panel. I’m glad that I finally watched The Ranger.
The Ranger was directed by Jenn Wexler. It was written by Wexler and Giaco Furino. It stars Chloë Levine, Jeremy Holm, Granit Lahu, Jeremy Pope, Bubba Weiler, and Amanda Grace Benitez. Larry Fessenden also cameos. Chloë Levine is great as the lead. She has to go through a whole range of emotions and has to do some intense physicality. The rest of the cast is fantastic. Granit Lahu plays a giant asshole, the least likable person in the movie at least aside from the titular ranger. Jeremy Holm is unsettling, and you get that from the start of the movie. He only gets more unsettling as it goes on.
The plot centers on Chelsea, a punk. She’s at a punk venue while a show is going on. She’s at the show with her boyfriend and his friends. They go on the run after the cops break-up the show and Garth, Chelsea’s boyfriend, stabs a cop. They go to the cottage that Chelsea inherited from her uncle after his death. On the way to the cottage the group runs into The Ranger. I’m going to the synopsis there, as vague as it is. I’m not going to go into anymore of the story just in case you haven’t watched the movie yet. I really want you to see it with as little knowledge of what happens in the plot.
The costumes in this are great. The punks dress a lot similarly to the punks I knew when I was growing up. The leather jackets with studs, patches, and chains are pretty spot on from my personal experience in small town, rural Tennessee. The punk club is pretty spot on, I’m sure. I never experienced anything aside from community centers. The music is awesome. The soundtrack is very punk heavy and it all adds to the frenetic energy of the movie. When it goes to the actual score it adds a different energy to the movie. I also really want to add that the talk of band names is also accurate, even though I never was in a proper band I did try to start a couple. One of the most fun parts was always coming up with names.
The Ranger kicks a lot of ass. It’s streaming only on Shudder as an exclusive.