Rebound is an indie psychological horror about a young woman, Claire, trying to restart her life. She walked in on her boyfriend cheating on her, dumped him, and kicked him out of the apartment. Still everywhere she looks, she can’t get his image out of her head. She chooses to drive cross-country back to her family in Chicago. Too bad her car breaks down outside a tiny town barely on the map.

Writer/director Megan Freels Johnston crafts a very unsettling portrait of codependency and fragility in Rebound. Her protagonist is a fully realized character; she’s just weak. Claire is seemingly incapable of standing up on her own. Her best friend warns her against her solo journey to Chicago, but any attempt to discuss challenges with her is met with denial and immediate push back. No one will stop her from abandoning everything she’s built in LA to hide back with her family in the comfort of Chicago.

Rebound is told in a series of small moments, either solitary or with one other person. Ashley James grounds the film in a strong sense of realism. Almost everyone else she meets throughout her journey and unplanned stop is an extreme challenge to her mindset and goals.

A homeless woman cannot choose to run away from her problems. The stranger who offers her a ride into town forces her to actively make a choice in her life. The mechanic falls for her old patterns of gaining sympathy from anyone she meets, while a bartender refuses to offer sympathy. It’s an exceptionally taxing experience before the film takes a turn for pure horror.

Perhaps Rebound relies a bit too much on this very theatrical conceit. The most cinematic moments in the film happen when Claire is by herself. There is so much tension created by these small scenes because we get to see Claire truly struggle to be herself.

We watch her drop to the ground in her kitchen because she thinks of her ex. We watch her talk to herself about anxiety and fear when she realizes how far her journey actually is. We watch her rush to whatever quiet sanctuary she can find while stopped at a rest stop, scouting the landscape like a bird fearing a predatory.

Rebound takes a turn into body horror and torture in the second half and it’s more unsettling than you can imagine. Her captor’s motivation is forcing her to confront her life and actually live in the moment. There’s literally no escape when all the tricks in this wannabe actress’ magic hat are revealed for what they really are.

The audience is forced to reconcile with the extremity of the kidnapping and torture versus the very real concerns the captor has for Claire. His psychological portrait of Claire is profound and established clearly in the first half of the film. It doesn’t excuse his violent, abusive behavior, but it does create a unique psychological horror experience with a crushing twist ending.

Rebound is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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