The simple premise of “Outlier” is a woman held hostage by a psychopath who seems convinced he’s helping her. Director Nick Strayer, who wrote the script with Jona Doug, builds credible tension in what is basically a two-character thriller in a remote setting.
Jessica Denton gives a fine performance as Olivia Davis, a young woman living in the woods with her abusive boyfriend, James. When Olivia tries to flee, James catches up with her at a nearby gas station and threatens her. A young man just happens to be pumping gas and steps in to help Olivia. Thomas (Thomas Cheslek) gives her a ride in his truck and offers the panicked Olivia safe harbor at his lake front house.
Soft spoken Thomas at first seems too good to be true — so little surprise that he isn’t. But this doesn’t spoil the suspense that Strayer builds effectively and that the actors credibly convey. Olivia begins to suspect that her nightmares are real and wonders whether she’s running away from James or from Thomas. She soon realizes she’s in grave
danger but Thomas, who claims that as a boy he witnessed his father violently abuse his mother, tells Olivia that he’s helping her. She’s too passive, he says, and not ready to leave his control. Cheslek plays him as a mild mannered software geek (this figures into the plot) but Thomas’s deceptive calm is what makes him so sinister.
Strayer shot the film during the pandemic while quarantined with the actors. The confined setting ratchets up the tension and creates paranoia. It's not surprising that there are some plot holes and contrivances owing to the bare bones production. But taut direction and determined performances, particularly from Denton as a woman who finally finds the strength to fight back, elevates “Outlier” above the usual woman in peril tropes to make it a satisfying thriller.
