The trailer for director Craig Zobel’s Compliance defines the word “creepy”

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The first trailer for director Craig Zobel’s COMPLIANCE has arrived and the premise is likely to give you the willies. Based on a true story, the film centers on the day-to-day operations at a fast food restaurant and what happens when a phone call sets up a chain of events that change the lives of everyone involved.

Make it a value meal:

This looks interesting as hell, especially since it leads you into the premise, but doesn’t give much away.  The film generated a lot of buzz at Sundance this year, with most reviews lauding the captivating creepiness of it all.  It definitely looks like a film that will toy with your emotions, which I’m always down for, unless it involves puppies or Kardashians.

Here’s the synopsis:

Becky and Sandra aren’t the best of friends. Sandra is a middle-aged manager at a fast-food restaurant; Becky is a teenaged counter girl who really needs the job. One stressful day (too many customers and too little bacon), a police officer calls, accusing Becky of stealing money from a customer’s purse, which she vehemently denies. Sandra, overwhelmed by her managerial responsibilities, complies with the officer’s orders to detain Becky. This choice begins a nightmare that tragically blurs the lines between expedience and prudence, legality and reason. Craig Zobel (his The Great World of Sound appeared at the Festival in 2007) returns with this riveting film, based on a true story. The cast delivers hauntingly authentic performances that make the appalling events unfolding onscreen all the more difficult to watch, but impossible to turn away from. Delving into the complex psychology of the real-life story under its sensationalized surface, COMPLIANCE proves that sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

COMPLIANCE opens on August 17, 2012.