Independent Films, Film Profiles

Thr3e (film)

Thr3e is a 2006 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ted Dekker.The film opens with Jennifer Peters (Justine Waddell) attempting to save her brother Roy, who has been abducted by a serial killer. The murderer is known as the Riddle Killer, or R.K., because of how he ties in riddles with his murders. Jennifer has recently written a book about the nature of serial killers, to which R.K. has taken offense. Jennifer follows R.K.'s clues and finds Roy, but fails to save him as the car he is trapped in blows up.The focus then shifts to a college theology student named Kevin Parson (Marc Blucas). Kevin has recently completed the third draft of his thesis about the nature of good and evil. One day, he receives a phonecall from R.K., demanding that he confess some unspecified sin, or his car would be blown up. He also tells Kevin a riddle: "What falls but never breaks? What breaks but never falls?" (The answer is dusk and dawn) Puzzled at what sin he means and the riddle, Kevin quickly escapes from the car before the explosion. He tells about what happened to the police, among them Jennifer, but leaves out the part about the sin the killer demanded he confess, believing that the sin is what he did some time ago.Back at his home, he meets up with a woman named Samantha Sheer (Laura Jordan), whom he has known since they were children. They decide to try to figure out the mystery of the Riddle Killer, who continues to target him, and appears to be somehow able to monitor Kevin in his own home. Kevin receives a threat against his childhood dog, and goes to the house of his aunt Balinda (Priscilla Barnes), who abused him when he was a child. He fails to save his dog from a bomb. Kevin and Sam also find that his home has been broken into, and the papers of his thesis scattered around. They find a clue left by R.K. that a bus would be destroyed, and luckily manage to get everyone off in time.Sam and Kevin theorize who might have a grudge against him. Kevin remembers a boy from when they were children who tried to kill him. In self-defense, Kevin had locked him in a warehouse and left him to die. They conclude that he escaped, and is now R.K., or the Riddle Killer, who killed Jennifer's brother. Kevin confesses leaving him in the warehouse on television and apologizes, hoping to satisfy him and that he would now be left alone. However, R.K. insists that it is not sufficient, and still does not leave him alone.Jennifer tries to research who the boy might have been, but finds nothing. She also visits Kevin's Aunt Balinda, and finds that she has been keeping her husband and son Bob in the dark about the entire world outside their home, and had done so to Kevin as well. R.K. leaves a bomb in another warehouse, and lures Kevin and Sam in to try to stop it. He locks Sam in a room while her back is turned, and Kevin gets her out, but does not have time to stop the bomb. Jennifer and the police arrive, and investigate. Sam leaves, and Kevin insists on not cooperating with Jennifer, as the killer insisted on no police involvement, and might kill him or other people. Jennifer declares her resignation, and says that as she is no longer officially involved, she no longer counts. However, Kevin ignores her.Kevin finds another threat, this time to his Aunt Balinda. He rushes over there to try to save her. He finds Balinda tied up, and the Riddle Killer introduces himself as Slater (Bill Moseley) (in the book, Slater's identity is given at the beginning). Sam finds a note by R.K., and is startled to see he has the same handwriting as Kevin. In a phone conversation, Jennifer and Sam talk about it, and how there was only one pair of footprints in the warehouse, and how Sam had never actually seen R.K.. They realize that all the riddles were about opposites, like nightfall and daybreak, and R.K. might actually be essentially Kevin's "evil half."After finding where Kevin went, Sam rushes to Balinda's house, and finds that the Riddle Killer, Slater, is real after all when she looks under the door and sees 2 pairs of shoes. Slater explains that he will have Kevin kill Balinda, then leave him to take the blame, as everyone will believe Kevin is the Riddle Killer. Jennifer arrives to find Kevin pointing a gun at himself. As it turns out, Slater and Sam are BOTH figments of Kevin's imagination. Kevin had been traumatized by the treatment by Balinda, had imagined his friend Samantha and the boy he fought with, and had subconsciously imitated the real Riddle Killer. Jennifer convinces Kevin of this, and his visions of Slater and Sam vanish. (In the book, Sam herself convinces Kevin to open his eyes, and to see the creator. Kevin is devastated that his best friend is gone, but the professor assures him that Samantha will always be with him; she is him.)Kevin had said that the real Riddle Killer was right in front of their eyes, and Jennifer discovers while examining his wall of clippings that the hot dog vendor who'd supposedly been given a book by the killer to give to her is at the front of the crowd in a photo, holding a camera; when captured, he confesses that he hates copycats and had meant to kill Kevin for copying him.Kevin is sent to an institution; Jennifer visits him there.