Penny Dreadful

Penny Dreadful
Film poster
Directed by	Richard Brandes
Produced by	Richard Brandes Braxton Pope Anita Sgarro Andrew Weiner
Screenplay by	Diane Doniol-Valcroze Arthur Flam Richard Brandes
Story by	Diane Doniol-Valcroze Arthur Flam
Starring	Rachel Miner Mimi Rogers Mickey Jones Michael Berryman Chad Todhunter Liz Davies Tammy Filor
Music by	Steve Gurevitch
Cinematography	Joplin Wu
Editing by	Ben Le Vine
Distributed by	Freestyle Releasing After Dark Films
Release date(s)	United States (Theatrical) 18 November 2006
Running time	92 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Penny Dreadful is a 2006 American horror film. The film centers on a young woman who has a phobia of cars and ends up stalked by a maniac hitchhiker preying on her fear. Penny Dreadful is an R-Rated film for violence/terror, some sexuality and language.

Plot

Penny, (Rachel Miner), a young woman traumatized by a childhood auto accident that killed her parents, accompanies her therapist Orianna (Mimi Rogers) on a road trip to a mountain community as part of her therapy to overcome her fear of cars. On the way, Orianna hits, but does not seriously injure, a hitchhiker, who she then offers a ride. The hitchhiker is silent during the ride, except to point out his destination.

After dropping off the hitchhiker, they discover that he has punctured one of the tires. Orianna sets off to get reception for her cell phone, but fails to return. Penny goes off to find Orianna, but trips and falls. When she wakes up, she's back in the car, which has been wedged between two trees. Orianna, whose death has been recorded on a video camera, is beside her. Penny tries to call for help, but the hitchhiker continues to terrorize and torture her. Several people who live and work nearby are killed by the hitchhiker, when they attempt to help her or get in his way.

Penny is tortured for another few hours, and when she tries to crawl out of the car window, the hitchhiker grabs her right foot and cuts off one of her toes. After finally falling asleep, she turns around to find the hitchhiker sitting in the back wearing Orianna's clothes, who then pulls off the hood and tries to strangle her while saying, "Don't forget your breathing exercises, Penny." She manages to fight off the hitchhiker by stabbing him in the eye with a pencil and escape from the car, only to trip from her injured foot. The hitchhiker finds her and tries to attack, but a man driving a pick-up truck drives past in time to hit the hitchhiker. The hitchhiker appears to be dead at this point, and the truck driver is panicking. He tells Penny to wait in the vehicle while he assists the hitchhiker. Penny feels a bit of relief as she watches the man and the dead hitchhiker. But terror boils up when she realizes the hitchhiker is still moving.

Cast

^[1] Cast is listed in order of their appearance in the film.

DVD Special Features

• "Behind the Screams" Featurette
• Teaser Trailer
• Sanity "Stay Away" Music Video
• 16x9 Widescreen Version
• 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio
• English and Spanish Subtitles
• English Closed Captioning
• Trailers

Release

The film debuted as one of the 8 Films To Die For in the first After Dark Horrorfest in 2006, released theatrically nationwide on November 18, 2006. The DVD was released on March 27, 2007 by Lionsgate and After Dark Films.

External links

• Penny Dreadful at AllRovi
• Penny Dreadful at the Horror Fest official website
• Penny Dreadful at the Internet Movie Database
• Film Review and Trivia at Cinefantastique
• Trailer at apple.com
• DVD Review at Film Threat