John Cusack stars as a police detective in charge of an investigation into the disappearance and likely deaths of prostitutes in The Factory co-starring Jennifer Carpenter and Mae Whitman. Co-written and directed by Morgan O'Neill and rated R for strong violence including disturbing images, language throughout and some sexual material, the cast of this twisted thriller also includes Dallas Roberts, Sonya Walger, and Michael Trevino.

Shot back in 2008, The Factory finally saw a limited festival run in 2012 and arrives on DVD on February 19, 2013.

The Factory Plot:

Detective Mike Fletcher (Cusack) is a decent cop but fairly lousy husband and father, devoting too much of his off-duty hours to the case of missing hookers. Whatever psycho is abducting the working women hasn't left behind many clues, but he does stick to a fairly simple mode of operation: he abducts the women during snowy winters and always by picking them up in his car. There are vague descriptions of his vehicle, however the guy who's behind the missing ladies of the night is smart enough to have evaded capture for three years. The powers-that-be want to close the case and move it to the unsolved mysteries pile, but Fletcher and his partner, Kelsey Walker (Carpenter), are intent on continuing to pursue any and all avenues in hopes of finding the crazy person everyone assumes is a male.

Detective Fletcher is obsessed with the case, often to the point of disappointing and alienating his family.

But things get really personal when his own daughter, Abby (Whitman), after sneaking out of the house and then having a fight with her boyfriend is mistaken as a prostitute and abducted.

The Bottom Line:
Cusack and Carpenter are believable as partners (Carpenter has loads of experience to call upon after playing a detective in Dexter) and as the psycho with a thing for prostitutes, Dallas Roberts (currently seen as the right-hand man to a psychotic self-proclaimed leader of a town of zombie apocalypse survivors in The Walking Dead), is also well cast in the role. He's alternately charming and sinister, although he never makes the twisted creep a sympathetic character which would have been pushing things too far. Also displaying a wide range of emotions as the kidnapped daughter is Mae Whitman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower). It's definitely not the fault of the actors that The Factory doesn't work. The fact the thriller has so few thrills rests on the shoulders of writers Morgan O'Neill and Paul A. Leyden. Their script never gains its footing and the few twists are either telegraphed way too early or are simply implausible and therefore more silly than frightening.
As for the film's release on DVD, "bare-bones" is an apt description. There's not a single bonus included on the DVD...not even a trailer or a deleted scene...which makes it impossible to recommend adding this no-frills thriller to your DVD collection.