Surveillance

Surveillance is a 2008 American independent thriller film co-written and directed by Jennifer Lynch and starring Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Michael Ironside and French Stewart. The story is set in the Nebraska plains of United States. The film premiered "out of competition" and appeared in a midnight slot at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Surveillance is Lynch's second feature film, following a fifteen-year break after Boxing Helena. Plot A series of violent deaths and the disappearance of a young woman bring FBI agents Hallaway (Bill Pullman) and Anderson (Julia Ormond) to a town in rural Nebraska. They meet the three survivors of a mysterious bloodbath; the young Stephanie (Ryan Simpkins), the cocaine-addicted Bobbi (Pell James), and the foul-mouthed police officer Bennett (Kent Harper). Hallaway watches the trio's respective interviews with Captain Billings (Michael Ironside) and officers Wright (Charlie Newmark) and Degrasso (Gill Gayle), where they tell the story of what brought them there: In a warped way to pass the day, Officer Bennett and his partner Officer Conrad (French Stewart) watch (both hidden from view) and shoot the tires of cars driving along an isolated county road, then convince the drivers their tires blew out as a result of their speeding, and threaten them afterwards. They do so to one young couple then let them go. A bit later, Stephanie, traveling on vacation with her family, sees a car (the couple's) with blood on it and tells it to her oblivious mother (Cheri Oteri). Bobbi, using drugs with her boyfriend Johnny (Mac Miller), is in a car right behind them. At a rest stop, both girls learn a pair of killers are responsible for a string of murders and likely the woman's disappearance. Stephanie's stepfather Steven (Hugh Dillon) supposedly speeds and their car's tire is shot by Bennett. Bobbi and Johnny are about to offer help, but the officers arrive and harass all of them, making Steven put Conrad's gun in his mouth and making Bobbi swear at Johnny. After all of this, Stephanie tells the officers about the bloody car she saw earlier. The officers leave to investigate.