Senator Payton Burnham (Mark Kassen) is about to have a very bad day. He just doesn’t know it yet. In fact, at the beginning of the new thriller PH-1, Burnham is barely able to sleep on account of all the positive press he is getting. As the sun is rising, he is scrolling social media, basking in the organic praise he is receiving after a political event held the night before. We all know that things are about to take a cruel turn for two reasons. One, he’s a politician and they always have secrets. And two, we just settled in for a thriller. Kassen, who stars in, directs, and cowrites PH-1 with Cheryl Guerriero is to be praised for the amount of work and passion he puts into the film. But there are issues that keep this good thriller from being great.

Burnham darts about the house in his shirt and tie, chatting with his assistant Rebecca (Dina Shihabi) on facetime. Rebecca, or rather Becca as he calls her, is pitching an appearance on yet another news story about water safety to bolster his reputation when Burnham’s long suffering wife Catherine (Rebecca Amzallag) appears in the kitchen. As Catherine shepherds their kids through the morning routine she pokes at her husband for being out so late at the last event without a call. The two exchange pleasantries, kisses and soon Burnham has the penthouse to himself to begin the work day.

For whatever reason Kassen and Guerriero pack an almost impossible amount of information into roughly the first five minutes of PH-1. A riot of editing, clips, dialogue, and world building all happen and we are expected to absorb the information. Okay, I appreciate that things aren’t slow. We are expected to keep up. But we know nothing about Burnham and we are never given a chance connect with this everyman politician. Should care for him or celebrate his demise.

Burnham heads to his home office and suddenly finds himself the target of a tech-savvy stalker named Buddy. At first Burnham ignores Buddy as a prank. That’s when Buddy releases incriminating photos to the press of Burnham and his assistant Becca. The blackmail begins and Buddy proves to be an all powerful enemy capable of the impossible. While Buddy is killing the power to Burnham’s luxury high rise, or hijacking any monitor near Burnham to stream the latest bad press on the beleaguered public servant, he is also launching a social media smear campaign that has Burnhams political future going straight down the drain.

Kassen and Guerriero sadistically feed us a drip line of clues here and there keeping us guessing and wondering what Buddy wants and why is he targeting Burnham. This felt like The Game meets No Way Out to me. The bad guy is impossibly smart and capable while we are never sure if Burnahm is the upstanding figure that he says he is. We get answers, so thank goodness for that but we never get a chance to know Burnham. This keeps us at a distance and hence, mildly interested as opposed to invested.

All said, PH-1 is still a worthy effort from Kassen and a that kind of white-knuckle thrill ride that entertains with mystery, suspense, and a payoff. The movie knows what it is aiming for and, for the most part, delivers.