I found "Thirst" to be a lovely little film that I doubt most people will see. Flipping through Jeffery Scott Lando's other films, I'm afraid I haven't seen any of his previous work, but being a fan of all things Buffy-related when I saw Mercedes McNab was in the cast I scooped it up without a second thought. I wasn't disappointed. With breathtaking, oppressive scenery the movie creates a sense of despair mingling nicely the backdrop of the film with the inner turmoil of the lead couple's relationship. The movie reminded of films like "Open Water" and other man vs. the natural world themed films.
I liked three out of four of the cast. Mercedes McNab did a good job with a relatively standard character in Jennifer. Lacey Chabert seemed well suited to the roll of Noelle, and ultimately showed the most emotion in the film. Bandon Quinn seemed to suit his character of Tyson quite well alternately making me dislike and root for him and wasn't bad to look at either. However, Tygh Runyan's portrayal of Bryon seemed emotionless and out of sync with the rest of the cast. Whether this was due to a character I genuinely didn't like or to the actor's performance I'm not sure, since I haven't seen Runyan in any other roles.
As the four, two couples, struggle onward through the desert the plot increasingly revolves less around the characters interactions and more around the dangers that the desert presents. I would have liked to see a bit less of people protesting that they couldn't go onward and a bit more desert danger. Lacey Charbert's character came off as a bit of a know it all, a limitless source of information and the hero of near every scene while the men came off as a bit whiny and rather useless and the ending hit full throttle suddenly and just slammed through a scene that could have built a good long bit of hopelessness.
On the whole though, if you like the 'stranded and must survive' style films you'll probably like it, if you don't it'll probably drag.
