the man in the white van
Directed by: Warren Skeels
Starring: Madison Wolfe, Brec Bassinger, Ali Larter, Sean Astin
In a small Florida town in 1975, young Annie finds herself being stalked by a mysterious and creepy white van, although no one believes her, at first..
The simplest way to describe THE MAN IN THE WHITE VAN is if you took the film Halloween, and replaced Michael Myers with a white van.
Set mostly in 1975 (there are some flash-backs which I'll come on to later), the film centers around Annie Williams, a young teenager who is becoming interested in boys; one in particular, the new kid from Memphis. She's the middle child in a family with a frequently absent father (Sean Astin) who's away on business a lot, and an overbearing, religious mother (Ali Larter).
Unfortunately for Annie, her family seem very closed-minded. She is seen as an attention-grabber, such as when at dinner she tells them that she encountered a large snake while riding her horse. So, when she tells them of her first creepy encounter with the van, they do not believe her.
The audience is well aware that the threat is real, however. We see flash-backs to different years and see the van driver abducting several women. Things are muddied for Annie though as there is a legitimate handy man who also drives a white van.
There are one or two issues with the film. The first is the contrast between the family dynamic and the rest of the town. The Williams family feel like they've been ripped out of the 1950s and dumped into 1975. The girls call their mother "Ma'am" which confused me considerably at first.
Then there is the killer's modus operandi, which seems to vary. There are times when he will kill his victim as soon as possible, with an axe. There are other times when he will drag a girl and chain her for another man to abuse her, (presumably his father). I believe this switch might be to justify why Annie is kept alive when she is abducted herself.
It is an enjoyable slasher, though, and definitely in the vein of Halloween. We get a great instance of "Checkov's Gun" principle, but with a kicking horse instead!
THE VERDICT
This is an enjoyable period-set slasher, replacing the usual masked killer with a white van, and for the most part it works. The film manages to keep the killer's identity hidden from the viewer, even when in close quarters with Annie, so who knows we may get a sequel!