The Hollow opens like it’s going to be a redneck version of The Bad Lieutenant with Deputy Ray Everett, played by writer/director Miles Doleac (Hallowed Ground, Demons), getting a bj from a meth addict. It’s not clear which one of the two is the more wasted either. However, it goes off in another more conventional direction after he gives a couple looking for a hotel for the night directions to the title location as a joke.

Come morning they’re dead, part of a triple homicide along with Kami (Portia Walls) Everett’s partner from the opening scene. All of which could probably have been swept under a rug and forgotten except the girl is the daughter of a US Senator which gets the FBI involved.

In many ways, The Hollow is the perfect B movie. A twisty plot with all manner of hidden secrets that threaten to destroy people. A mystery wrapped in a portrait of rural Southern life and corruption. From Big John Dawson (William Forsythe, Cold Pursuit, Halloween) the man who runs things in town to Adam Markey (David Warshofsky, Running Scared) as the high school principal who was also entirely to close to Kami.

Even the FBI agents Vaughn Killinger (James Callis, Battlestar Galactica, House By The Lake) and Sarah Desoto (Christiane Seidel, Boardwalk Empire) aren’t so clean. With their partnership extending beyond the professional and his drinking problem, they have their own devils to deal with. Ones they’ll have to keep a grip on as they try to solve a case where it seems everyone is either a suspect or protecting somebody who might be.

The cast and atmosphere carry The Hollow. The mystery at times seems to take a backseat to the other intrigues going on. The cast is prime B movie ensemble, plenty of familiar, talented faces with a couple of bigger names in smaller roles. They work well together to make what could have turned into an overly melodramatic potboiler into a tense little thriller. That they make can make us care about these characters, none of whom we would call heroic. Most of whom we’d have to stretch to even call good, is really a testament to their talent.

At just over two hours The Hollow does run a bit long for its own good. It does, however, hold on to your interest despite the slower spots. And it’s not like there’s really anything so extraneous it could be cut. It just could be told in a more compact way.

The Hollow is available to stream though Uncork’d Entertainment.