Critic Reviews

• Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times

  Cruelty, bloodletting and death are evident throughout (frequently occurring just outside the frame), and Griffith's laudable discretion actually intensifies their impact.

• Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

  Griffiths lays bare a many-tentacled trafficking system sickening in its reach.

• Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic

  A quite moving performance comes from Jamie Chung as Eden, repulsion sliding into fearful acceptance without the extinction of hope.

• Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post

  Nearly every second is taken up with the horrors inflicted upon the heroine by the sorriest bunch of good ol' boy sadists since "Deliverance."

• Stephanie Carrie, Village Voice

  A few moments harp on the sentimental, but overall, this is a powerful addition to the small collection of films dedicated to spreading awareness of this horrific crime.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  [An] excruciating vision of under-age women conscripted into sexual slavery by a criminal enterprise from which there is seemingly no escape.

• Drew Taylor, The Playlist

  Tackles the issue of sex slavery, but does so in a way that never feels too clumsy or overarching. Instead, it's a character study with thriller elements; it exposes you to a horrible underworld without ever beating you over the head with it.

• Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com

  The intimate scenes between marginalized individuals feeling out complicated relationships. . .gives unusually poignant insight into those caught up in sex trafficking.

• David Noh, Film Journal International

  Tackling the most lurid of subjects, this schlocky shocker proves that sometimes female directors can be as exploitative as men.

• Scott Tobias, AV Club

  Griffiths and her screenwriter, Rick Phillips Jr., manage the tricky business of evoking the specific horrors of sex slavery without languishing in the lurid and graphic.

• Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

  There should be more to chew on with a story as horrific as this, yet writer/director Megan Griffiths isn't interested in the crucial details of decay, robbing the film of necessary motivations and a lasting welt of reality.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  A compelling indie film inspired by a true story about a New Mexico woman who is kidnapped and forced into prostitution in a sex trade operation.

• Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

  Brave, gritty, complex and suspenseful. Jamie Chung gives the best performance of her career.

• Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine

  The "male gaze" that often despicably and hypocritically surfaces in these kinds of films is pointedly absent throughout.

• Mark Adams, Screen International

  As a vehicle for the talented Leandra Leal - who plays a pregnant young woman who is seduced and manipulated by an evangelical preacher - it is an impressive affair.

Read all 15 critic reviews