Oh boy. Another Florida movie. You know it’s going to be a crazy ride whenever they set
the story in Florida.
This is 2021’s Midnight in the Switchgrass, and this is a crime thriller based in Florida.
Not really a stretch to imagine that.
Spoiler alert. I might give you my opinion on the film, but that’s no substitute for
watching it for yourself. Links to the film are in the description.
Over the radio, we hear about a reward being offered by the family of Lucy Baylor who has
gone missing, and we find out that there are still no suspects after a week of her being
missing. We see a salesman stop his car off the side of a highway, and he heads under
a county bridge to relieve himself.
This is already a Florida movie if ever there was one. His head literally sits right in
line with the road above him, and I can just imagine all these people driving by seeing
this little head smile at them while he goes to the bathroom.
Suddenly, the salesman looks around and finds some jewelry lying on the ground. He follows
a trail of misplaced items until he comes to find the body of a missing girl. As police
sirens wail, investigators arrive on the scene, and we meet Byron. As he crosses the police
tape, he descends under the bridge and takes a look at the body.
As he goes over the girl’s information, he finds out that her name is Sarah, and her
last known location was Tallahassee. It makes you wonder how she got to Pensacola. That
night, we see Tracey who is at a party in town, and she doesn’t look too hot. She
slowly creeps down the stairs of the hotel and into the parking lot.
As she walks by the trucks at the truck stop, multiple truckers try to invite her into their
truck for some food and fun, but she doesn’t pay any of them any attention. Finally, one
of them tries to force her into his truck, but another man knocks him out and takes her
to safety somewhere off camera.
I’m not so surprised by all the guys trying to get her into their trucks. I’m more surprised
that one of them actually knocked the one guy out to help her. Granted, he might’ve
just been playing nice to get the same thing, but it’s still better than the one guy that
offered her pancakes in the truck. I mean, I’d probably perk up at the idea of pancakes
in the middle of the night, but this guy was trying to coerce her with pancakes like it
was the hot item of the night.
We cut back to the hotel Tracey left, and we see Karl sitting in the car communicating
to Rebecca inside. As Karl tells her that her mark is coming to the door, she gets ready
to entertain, but the man turns out not to be the one she’s looking for.
Why is it that the easiest go to disses for Florida are the classic trailer trash comments?
I mean, it’s a safe go to, but still...be sensitive to the situation!
Rebecca disarms him quicker than he knows what to do with her, and Karl busts in just
at the end of the beat down. As they leave, we cut to Tracey who is riding in the truck
with Peter, who saved her earlier.
He’s listening to a radio preacher which I guess should make her feel a little safer
about being in the truck with him, but I’d just keep a safe amount of paranoia with anyone
around there.
He talks to her about his family, and he offers to let her stay with them that night. The
next morning, Pensacola police department is buzzing, but Byron has his eyes on one
case. He is connecting seven different cases to one person, and he believes the Sarah case
is one of them. He tells his captain that he can’t stand that no one is standing up
for the girls, and he prepares to figure it out on his own.
Meanwhile at a diner, Karl tells Rebecca that their operation is getting pulled from Florida
and moved to somewhere in the northwest. She’s none too happy about it though, and she tells
Karl that she’s not going to give up on the sting they had set up for that night.
Byron heads to the home of Sarah’s family, and he gets ready to talk to them about their
daughter. Sarah’s mother, Georgia, answers the door, and after seeing Byron’s dedication
to being respectful about the situation, she invites him inside for a moment. After hearing
about her life story, Georgia talks about how she used to hide in the switchgrass until
midnight, and Byron starts to ask questions about Sarah.
Next, we cut over to Peter for a moment, and we see him lock his barn up with a padlock
before he washes himself in the basin outside.
It’s him. Has to be. I’d be more suspicious of him than the pimp that tried to beat up
Rebecca. At least that guy was open about his faults and crimes. Peter is that crazed
lunatic that hides under a facade that shows him being the good guy, but really, he’s
feeding girls to his pet gator in his barn. I know that sounds like a stretch, but I bet
someone can find at least ten cases like that based in Florida right now.
Back at Byron’s home, we meet his wife, Suzanna. She is home taking care of their
children, and she asks how his day was. As he tells her about all the missing and dead
girl cases from the day, she goes on to tell him that he’s doing the Lord’s work in
helping these women. He isn’t so sure anymore though.
We cut to Peter and his family who are preparing for dinner.
Just a quick little FYI, Watership Down is NOT the children’s story it’s portrayed
as! Do not trust the cute and cuddly mask that book and movie wear. If you want to scar
your child for life, let them watch that movie. They’ll never look at an open field the
same way ever again! Even the mother, Karen, says Bethany is too young for the book!
Meanwhile, Rebecca and Karl sit outside a motel waiting for their mark, but he never
shows. After they leave, a man does show up. It’s Peter. A woman named Chasity invites
him into her room, and they head to the bed to have some fun. After he sees how dirty
he thinks she is, he chokes her out and calls her disgusting.
The next day, Bethany goes out to play ball, and she comes across a drainage ditch. When
she starts to crawl in, she hears a girl breathing inside, and she runs back to the house. Once
she’s gone, we hear Tracey calling out for help.
Back in town, Byron responds to a case that has started off of Chasity being choked to
death from the night before. He knows that it’s related to the other crimes. Outside,
he meets Karl and Rebecca who give him enough information about the man they’re tracking
to make him think that it’s the same one he’s been trying to find, and he tells them
to contact him if they have any more information.
At Peter’s house, Peter goes to a secret compartment he keeps in the house, and he
pulls out the clothes of one of the girls he killed. As he takes a deep breath, he seems
to be obsessed with the scent.
Someone should tell Peter that there are easier ways to get women’s clothing. You don’t
have to kill them to get one of their shirts. Granted the thrill he gets in killing them
won’t be stained all over the clothes, but hey. Think smarter.
Someone come get Chester the molester! He’s not even really hiding them that well! And
what about his daughter? She’s a partner in crime now that she just forgot all about
the woman’s voice in the drainage ditch.
That night, Rebecca decides to contact Byron, and they meet at a local bar. After communicating
what has been going on on both sides of the case, they believe that they can work together,
and Byron turns her on to Tracey’s sister, Heather. When Rebecca goes to meet her, she
finds out that Heather has to work off some debt with Calvin, the man that tried to get
handsy with Rebecca.
When we see Tracey again, we see that Peter thinks she has been a good girl, and she’s
better off staying with him. She mentions the fact that she heard Bethany’s voice,
and it sends Peter into a little flurry.
Back at the motel, Rebecca goes to question Calvin, and she gets some information that
might help lead her closer to Peter. As she goes to leave, Calvin remembers that comment
she made about his trailer trash family, and he corrects her by telling her a terrible
true story.
Is this just a one up situation? This bad to the bone pimp just spilled his heart out
to her, and the best she can do is the tough love too bad for you story? Rebecca is definitely
a cold hearted woman, but hey! Sometimes that’s what you’ve got to be to get the job done.
When Rebecca goes to meet Karl, she gives him a little more back story about why this
whole operation is touchy for her, and Karl tries to talk into leaving it entirely. When
she tries to call him weak for leaving, he tells her what he really thinks of her.
He calls her toxic, and he knows that if he stays with her, she’s going to get him killed.
Yep. I can definitely see that. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already, but now I’m
really expecting it by the end of the movie.
That night, Rebecca hops online and communicates with Peter to set up a new meeting. After
getting a new meeting spot, Rebecca takes Byron with her as her partner, and they head
in to meet up with Peter.
Honestly, this bar looks like Peter might be the least of her worries. Then again, some
of the nicest and most protective people you will ever meet can be found in places like
this. Biker bars are the best, and Florida is full of them!
As the night goes on, eventually, a suspicious man pops up, and Byron gives chase. Then Peter
actually shows up at the bar next to Rebecca, and he tries to make conversation with her.
Once she notices that it’s actually him, she starts to feel a little woozy, and she
tries to make it to the bathroom. She almost makes it, when Peter shows up and takes her
away.
Byron tries to spot her, but he can’t make contact with her anymore. Rebecca wakes up
in Peter’s truck to the tunes of Country Christian music playing, and he knocks her
back out with a rag of chloroform.
I want to say this is why Florida gets a bad rep, but it’s just being truthful. Florida
is definitely not all palm trees and beaches. Peter is an extreme, but there really are
a lot of people out there just like him.
After Byron runs home to get ready to go find Peter, Suzanna stops him on his way out and
makes him promise to make it home to her and the baby. She shows that she’s undoubtedly
worried about his safety, and he validates everything she says, while promising to make
it back to them. But he has to go now, and he has to do his job.
Then Byron heads to the station where Peter picked up Tracey and asks to see the camera
footage from that night. Byron sees footage of the night, and he’s able to see that
Peter’s truck belongs to Southern Harbor Freight.
Meanwhile, Rebecca wakes up chained in Peter’s barn near Tracey. Tracey hears her struggling,
and she starts to get her hopes up. Eventually, Peter comes out to talk to her, and he tells
her about a crush he had not too long ago.
I feel like every lunatic is owed that monologue where they talk about some obscure romance
that started their descent into madness. Every single one of them is the same, but there’s
that one little detail that’s different that makes it the story for that killer.
While Peter talks to Rebecca about the dress that girl wore, Byron goes through the files
at the trucking office, and he begins to lose hope until the assistant finds Peter’s log
for that night and gives Byron the information.
Back on the farm, Peter locks up the barn as Bethany comes out to meet him. She wants
to help him, but he warns her away from the barn because of the dangerous equipment. Back
inside, Rebecca calls out to Tracey, and they talk about how Heather wants Tracey to come
home to her.
After Rebecca explains that he’s going to kill her now that he has her, she convinces
Tracey to try and find a way to escape her prison. As Tracey tries to find a way out,
Peter is inside promising to do all sorts of fun things with Bethany on the weekend.
Peter tucks Bethany in, and he tells her that he has to go to work. As Tracey pulls at the
sheets that cover her walls, she realizes that it’s only a measly fence on one side,
and she digs her way out from underneath it.
Tracey crawls her way into a drainage pipe that leads her out at the point Bethany heard
her all those days ago.
No, no, no! I honestly never expected her to really be a partner in crime like that!
Granted, she has no idea what’s really going on, so we can’t really blame her, but Tracey
might’ve had a chance if it wasn’t for the little park ranger with her hand binoculars
scoping the field at night.
Peter goes out to find who Bethany is talking about, and he heads to the room he kept Tracey
in. Once he realizes that she’s gotten away, he checks through all of the tall switchgrass
to find the missing girl. He even calls out to her by name.
Where is Karen, and why isn’t she questioning him on what’s going on? Their daughter just
screamed that someone was running through the field, and now he’s out there calling
another woman by name? Why isn’t she out there asking why he knows what’s going on?
I wouldn’t be surprised if he chloroformed her too.
As Byron races out to Peter’s property, he has flashbacks to all the crime scenes
and family members he had to talk to throughout all of these cases. Meanwhile, Peter’s neighbor
is at her home, minding her own business when Tracey comes knocking on her door. The elderly
woman helps her into the house, and Tracey tells her that Peter has another and to call
the police.
The elderly lady calls the police, but Byron is already knocking on Peter’s door. Suzanna
answers and tells him that Peter has gone to check on an elderly neighbor, and we see
Peter making his way into the neighbor’s home. He tries to look around, but the woman
is adamant that he comes back the next day.
He’s a better hound dog than the neighbor’s dog is! The real dog ran right by where Tracey
was hiding and didn’t even turn around. Peter, on the other hand, picked up the trail
immediately.
The neighbor eventually puts her foot down and has him leave her house. Meanwhile, Byron
waits patiently in Peter’s home while Peter goes to the barn to interrogate Rebecca.
[clip of Peter pulling chain and Rebecca flies into the shelf is from 1:24:39 to 1:24:43]
Well damn! She won’t be able to answer his questions if he keeps throwing her around
like that! Back inside the house, they think they hear Peter yelling at something, but
they aren’t really sure of anything until Peter’s little partner in crime comes out
saying that Peter has gone to get the person in the grass. Thank goodness for the innocence
of children. She’s really not playing any sides here. She just saw a strange woman crawling
through her field, and everyone is going to know about it.
Byron heads out into the field to find Peter, but Peter is still checking the barn for signs.
Rebecca picks up a screwdriver and waits for the right time. When Peter gets close to inject
her with tranquilizer, she stabs him in the gut with the screwdriver. As Peter dies on
the floor, Rebecca struggles to catch her breath as she hangs by the chain.
Luckily, Byron shows up just in time, and Rebecca wakes up in a hospital bed with Karl
by her side. Meanwhile, Peter’s family has to deal with the idea of knowing that Peter
did everything that he did, and Tracey is picked up from the old lady’s house by ambulance.
Byron makes a special trip to Georgia’s house to deliver the news that he caught the
man that killed her daughter, and she is beside herself with happy grief. The two of them
hold each other and cry as the credits begin to roll.
This was an interesting one. It paced itself in a weird way that still worked, and it actually
felt like a fresh take on a common theme for the genre. With an all star cast, this was
definitely worth a try.
Thank you for watching, and I hope you enjoyed the video. Don’t forget to like and subscribe
for more like this one. Comment what you think I should watch next, and I’ll see you in
the next video.