Brigham City

Like the small town in David Lynch's Blue Velvet, the sleepy little burg of Brigham City, Utah has its skeletons (or porn video collections) in the closet, but in writer/director/star Richard Dutcher's modestly budgeted independent thriller, exotic erotica is the exception, not the norm. Dutcher plays Wes Clayton, sheriff and bishop (of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, popularly known as the Mormon church), who not only boasts of the fact that no murder has ever taken place in his small town, but gladly hands over a grisly rural killing to the FBI since the victim's car sports out-of-state plates. Clayton's attempts to keep the outside world at bay turn out to be short-lived, however, when a local beauty queen is found murdered and stuffed underneath a gazebo in the town square, and he finds himself heading up a hunt for a serial killer. A little rough around the edges, Brigham City nevertheless features a compelling storyline and strong performances from Dutcher, Matthew A. Brown, and Wilford Brimley, while also deftly interweaving scenes of daily Mormon religious life throughout, before wrapping up with an emotionally powerful conclusion. Ignore the lurid packaging, which is about as far removed from the tone and content of this thoughtful mystery as you could possibly get. Recommended. (R. Pitman)