Some of the best psychological thrillers of modern times have come from obscure directors working with unknown casts on tiny budgets. Take Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List and Alex R. Johnson’s Two Step as some recent examples. Next month will see the release of The Maid’s Room, from Price Check director Michael Walker. Whether it will be added to that list of unexpected gems remains to be seen, but the tense clip that We Got This Covered is exclusively debuting for you today is a very promising indicator.
In the clip, live-in maid Drina (Paula Garcés) discovers a newspaper clipping related to a recent hit-and-run, then overhears a conversation between her affluent employer Mr. Crawford (Bill Camp) and his teenage son Brandon (Philip Ettinger). The bits and pieces of what she hears sparks her realization that Brandon is responsible for the accident. It’s a brief, but tense and effective look at the film.
Anabelle Sciorra co-stars in the thriller, which Walker both wrote and directed. The Maid’s Room opens in theaters and on VOD on August 8th.
Set entirely on the posh east end of Long Island (where it was filmed), THE MAID’S ROOM centers around Drina, an attractive, intelligent immigrant who takes a job for the season as live-in maid to the Crawford’s, a privileged New York family who maintain a splendid home in the Hamptons. The job could be worse, since Mr. and Mrs. Crawford spend most of their time in the city, but their teenage son, Brandon, who is starting Princeton in the fall, is summering at the beach, and Drina must look after him and his spoiled friends. Since the maid’s room is next to the garage, Drina can’t help noticing when Brandon returns late one night, noisily and obviously drunk.
The next day, she sees that Brandon’s car is battered and bloodied and, when she reads in the local paper that there has been a fatal hit and run, it’s clear who’s responsible. Knowing the Crawford’s will do anything to protect their precious son, Drina realizes that, for once, she has some power over her employers. Though the situation is intoxicating, it also places her in far more danger than she imagines.
THE MAID’S ROOM is a psychological thriller that explores the complex relationships between truth and justice, hubris and power, wealth and fear.
