Renting this movie from Netflix, I expected a low- budget, sexually exploitative piece of fluff. To my surprise, I found it was actually a well done little thriller that holds the viewer’s interest to the end and uses its nudity appropriately and only where it is needed to further the plot.

Drifter Diana Kelper (DeLuca) wins a dance contest in Texas and arrives in the sleepy little New Mexico town of Santa Paula to collect her winnings. To her dismay and disgust, the “prize” requires that she dance in a local strip club with other women similarly tricked into coming there. Since she left the previous town owing money she can’t go back, and with no money she is forced to work in the club until she can make enough money to make her escape.

Meanwhile, we learn that a number of the girls have disappeared without a trace. The local sheriff (Montegna) is stumped but figures the lowlifes have just moved on. Nobody suspects that Colin Mandel, the owner of the town’s greasy spoon, is actually kidnapping them one at a time, drugging them, then turning them loose in a nearby semi-desert where he takes great sport in hunting them down and burying them where they fall.

When Diana disappears, one of the town deputies suspects fowl play, but he can’t get the Sheriff to get a warrant to search Mandel’s property. When Diana awakens, she finds she has been stripped of all her clothes and is all alone on a grassy field. To her horror Mandel – armed with rife and crossbow – tells her he will give her a 15 minute head start, and the terror-filled Diana begins to run for her life across fields, through scrubland and stream, all the while battling wolves, snakes, sharp rocks…and a two-legged serial killer hot on her tail.

The full-frontal nudity is shown for only about 10 minutes of the film before she finds an old shirt to wear. She also rips up a second shirt to wrap up her feet so she can run better. She proves to be much more resourceful than the hunter expected, but when she finally comes upon a camping family who offers help (and clothing), Mandel murders them all and continues to pursue Diana through the night. Yes, she finally succeeds in getting away, barely, but she is badly traumatized, and the final scene shows what the experience has done to both her psyche and her values.

While the film is obviously low budget with mostly unknown known actors (except for Montegna), they ensemble does a surprisingly good job in their roles, especially newcomer DeLuca. There are enough twists and keep the viewer guessing and the ending comes as quite a surprise. The story is based on Robert Hansen, a real life serial killer in Alaska who abducted, hunted, and killed over 20 young women there during the 70’s and 80’s before being caught. Yikes!

As luck would have it, a week after seeing the movie for the first time, it played on Showtime about midnight. So if you have cable TV, keep an eye out for it, curl up with a box of popcorn, and you won’t be disappointed.