Wildflower: Trust and Faith (Movie Review)

Wildflower (2014) is an unconventional faith-based film in that it is a thriller with a suspense-driven plot that turns the stereotypical stigma that most Christian flicks are saddled with, deserved or not, on its head.

The movie strays from the syrupy sweet storyline commonly associated with movies in the Christian genre, instead opting for a darker narrative complete with murder, abuse, the supernatural, and plenty of twists.

Chloe Moray (Nathalia Ramos – Bratz, “House of Anubis”) has trust issues. She doesn’t know who to trust and her nightmares have only been getting worse. She also has secrets; however, she can’t quite remember what some of the secrets are.

She is a talented 20-year-old art student at Wells College in Bradford, New York. Through her art, she is able to express feelings that she’s unable (or perhaps just unwilling) to share with others. Chloe starts having nightmares involving a large black truck chasing her down, and she can’t help but think that it’s a premonition to something more ominous on the horizon.

When Chloe tells Rebecca (Alex Steele—The Choking Game, “Degrassi”)—her friend and only person she trusts—about her dreams, she assumes they’re just that … bad dreams. However, as these nightmares become more vivid and more consistent, she also hears a voice calling out to her. The voice whispers things like “You saw what happened” and “You saw.”

The nightmares and voices are accompanied by “blackouts.” Upon “waking up” from these episodes, several hours have usually passed and she’s often defaced her artwork. The first blackout she experiences that the audience sees occurs while she is putting the final touches on a piece of art in a studio on campus. She ruins the piece by writing “Lost Soul” across it before “coming to” at a nearby bridge.

Josh (Cody Longo—“Days of Our Lives,” “Hollywood Heights”), who is struggling with his own issues, finds Chloe covered in red paint standing near the bridge. Not long before this, Josh’s girlfriend, Hannah, died while they were overseas. Because of her unfortunate death, he feels a tremendous amount of guilt and begins to lose faith.

His brother, Mark (Benjamin Ashbrook—Out of the Wild) is the pastor of the local church. Mark hires his younger brother to fix the church’s pews requiring Josh to be working in the sanctuary at times when he’ll hear God’s message. He overhears Mark relay a message of faith and trust in God to a group of children. Mark’s words weren’t coincidental. He hoped Josh would hear what he was saying since it related to his situation (as well as Chloe’s):

“Never forget that when you’re going through suffering nothing can separate you from God’s love. Everyone goes through hard times. Know that in each one of those times when you went through difficulty, God was with you. Each and every one of you. Always, especially during the most difficult times.

Chloe’s second “blackout” occurs while she’s lying in bed. When she awakens she is on her floor at the foot of her bed. Scattered all around her on the floor are drawings she’d previously completed. Many of them, if not all, are marked up with images she had apparently drawn while subconscious, including an image of Rebecca and the truck that has featured so prominently in her dreams.

Chloe shows her new drawings to Rebecca who suggests she talk with Pastor Mark. To make it easier, Rebecca promises to meet her at the church after her shift at the Parkside Diner.

When Rebecca never shows up at the church, Chloe and Josh go on a fact-finding mission to uncover the truth of what happened and possibly unlock the real meaning behind the recurring nightmares, the voice, the blackouts, and her trust issues. At the same time, Josh may uncover the key to restoring the faith he once had.