You know I’m not fond of this term, but female directors and their subsequent female protagonists are still in need of representation. But with the new release of the IFC thriller Rust Creek, director Jen McGowan–and the majority of the production team, including the cinematographer, production designer, colorist, and sound designer–are great additions to our expanding community.

Rust Creek follows the story of Sawyer (Hermione Corfield), an ambitious college student who finds herself stranded in the wintry Bible-Belt woods after taking a wrong turn during a road trip. (Long story short, sometimes it’s okay to not trust Siri.) Soon after, she must fight for survival not just against the elements, but to escape two creepy outlaws pursuing her.

And though she has little reason to trust anyone in the backwoods of Kentucky, she has no choice to team up with a shady, enigmatic meth cook named Lowell (Jay Paulson) in order to have any chance of getting out of the woods (see what I did there?). Her journey not only becomes one of survival, but one of her own philosophical development and realizing what matters most in her life.

Rust Creek features stunning cinematography with an appropriately bleak color palette in the rural forests of Kentucky. It was definitely a trip down memory lane from the times I made terrifying journeys through the backwoods of Northern California, and this film confirmed my fears of the potential Chainsaw-Massacre-folks who haunt them in rusty shacks.

Corfield, who hails from recent hits such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Last Jedi, delivers a strong performance as a lead who, like most survival-themed films, is tasked with carrying the majority of the film, and does so thoughtfully and with precision.

Though I won’t spoil it, Rust Creek is filled with as many twists and turns as there are in the winding trails that Sawyer must navigate. Is a stranded-in-the-wilderness story a new concept? No. Is a young-person-makes-a-wrong-turn idea a new concept? Nah. But McGowan presents a common idea with a refreshing level of panache to make it engaging and thrilling. And despite a slow middle, the climax will keep you on the edge of your seat as we only fall further in love with a strong female lead that is greatly needed at this point in the filmmaking world.