Co-directors Ryan Thiessen and Greg Swinson and actress Sandra Paduch in person!

On their way home from a high school football game, five teenage girls become hopelessly lost. When they stop to get directions at a desolate store, the girls are involved in a minor fender bender which leaves an unattended SUV one headlight short. Inexperienced and frightened that they'll get into trouble, the girls flee the scene of the accident and speed away down the dark and unfamiliar roads. As they blindly make their way across an area the locals call "The Eyes", the girls are suddenly shocked to see one lone headlight appear behind them. As the driver of the damaged SUV begins one terrifying assault after another, the five girls will lose their innocence and possibly their lives in this brutal and shocking thrill ride. (Sandra Paduch & Travis Stevens)

"Directors Ryan Thiessen and Greg Swinson, co-workers in a Tennessee college video department, shot this film in nine days on an incredibly micro-budget with low-fi gear and a cast of non-actors. The dialogue can be unpolished at times and so is the sound recording, but once you get into the film, you realize that this aesthetic works perfectly...you're watching a very realistic portrayal of a teen meltdown. If the characters are annoying and awkward at times, it's only because the reactions of a van-load of 16-year-old girls in this situation might occasionally make you want to kill them yourself.

I watched FIVE ACROSS THE EYES two weeks ago and it's still sticking with me. Thiessen and Swinson have crafted and executed a premise that completely justifies and is in fact enhanced by their low-fi production techniques. This is exactly the type of film that we are looking for at Fantastic Fest in our "emerging visions" subsection. You don't need a big budget, lots of locations and name actors to get your debut feature off the ground. All you need is a camera, talent and a fresh vision. These guys have that in spades." (Tim)