Two women unwittingly find themselves in a cat-and-mouse game in this  thriller that offers many twists and turns with driven performances by both Laura Vandervoort and Olesya Rulin.

Sara and Tess are two women who meet on a bus ride. Sara is a mysterious woman sporting dark hair and wearing gloves. As for Tess, she is an unhappy housewife who is pregnant with her first child. The two seem to get along, but things take a sinister turn when their matching black bags are mixed up. Tess opens her bag to find the head of someone. It is then when Sara tells her story. She was owed money and when she feared for her life, she was forced to defend herself and viciously kill her victim.

Sara informs Tess that since her prints are on the bag, she could be implicated for the murder as well. Instead, Sara comes up with an idea and that is to dispose of the body forever. Feeling completely on edge about what is happening, Tess attempts to go to the cops at every turn, but Sara comes up one step ahead. Finally, the two part ways but Tess learns a very shocking discovery that could change both her’s and Sara’s lives forever.

Written by Adam Pachter and Angela Bourassa and directed by Joshua Brandon, this film is quite a psychological thriller that deviates from what many are used to. The use of the titular black bags are quite a unique item and brings to mind the thing that turns the supposedly get along duo of Sara and Tess into a sinister game of cat-and-mouse where they attempt to outdo each other in covering up what they have come across.

The central characters of Sara and Tess are excellently played by Laura Vandervoort and Olesya Rulin. The two couldn’t be any more opposite, or so we think. Sara is more conniving and yet she brings a sense of charisma when it calls for it. For the most part, she tries to somehow want to get along with Tess, who is pregnant and scared out of her mind for getting in the situation. Rulin is perfectly cast as she has this look of innocence that she brings to the role and yet under the surface, she is clearly not happy with not just the situation but her life in general.

Sometimes, as crazy as this sounds, despite her obvious feeling of tension, Tess may have seen Sara as a way to break from her humdrum life and the third act is all about revelations. The shocking discovery leads to a final scene that takes place five years later and reveals even more than expected and it was quite jaw-dropping!

Black Bags definitely is a tense and at times shocking cat-and-mouse game between two women who never met. Laura Vandervoort and Olesya Rulin shine in the central roles here and they deserve major props for the their performances here

WFG RATING: A-

Vision Films presents a Filmstreet Production. Director: Joshua Brandon. Producers: Joshua Brandon, B.L. Fleischer, Peter Foldy, and Ron Wiskup. Writers: Adam Pachter and Angela Bourassa. Cinematography: Timothy Riese. Editing: Sam Hook.

Cast: Laura Vandervoort, Olesya Rulin, Ryan Francis, Bruce Davis, Lauren Summers, Melissa Lively, Drew Pollock, Jaclyn Friedlander.

The film comes to VOD on April 11.