The trailer for the upcoming neo-western thriller, “Hungry Dog Blues,” immediately puts viewers on edge. A father’s desperate plea for help has his son asking, How far would you go to save your dad, if you could?
Thus begins Jason Abrams’ ominous crime drama set in rural Missouri about two estranged half-brothers who set out to prove their imprisoned father’s innocence by kidnapping the lead witness testifying against him.
Abrams, who hails from St. Louis, wrote and directed the film. He also stars as Charlie Withers, who, along with his half-brother, Terrence (CJ Wilson, “The Blacklist” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7”), plot to kidnap and expose the lead witness, Ronnie (Amy Hargreaves, “13 Reasons Why” and “Homeland”), testifying against their father for embezzlement. The brothers enlist the help of Ronnie’s estranged daughter, Tina (Irina Gorovaia, “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “The Butterfly Effect”), to lure Ronnie out of hiding.
Abrams says he wrote “Hungry Dog Blues” after leaving New York and moving into the basement of his father’s small rental home just outside of St. Louis.
“Five years ago, my 80-year-old father’s business was raided by a government agency and he was indicted on federal charges,” Abrams said. “He was facing the rest of his life in prison and he lost everything: his house, car and finances.”
Abrams adds as he watched his father fight for his innocence, his own feelings of loyalty became overwhelming.
“I was willing to do anything to protect him,” he said. “But as more evidence came to light, innocence and guilt became less black and white. As I started to question the facts I was being given, I noticed my own justifications for his actions. It disturbed me. I saw my own willingness to betray my morals to protect someone I loved.”
Abrams says he sought to use his experience to explore something universal in human beings’ ability to cross their own morality.
“What came out, though layered in genre and cinematic set pieces, was a story of family, both born and chosen, fighting to reconcile their identities when faced with tough decisions. It was about the place that I am from and the people that inhabit it. It is a story that I am still examining and learning from with each step of the process.”
As with all his stories, Abrams set the movie in Missouri. “Hungry Dog Blues” was filmed in Foristell, Town and Country, Eureka and Union.
“I wanted to depict the place that I was from a more humanistic point of view than I normally see depicted on screen,” he explained. “In most cases, when audiences see the Midwest, it is a very polarized depiction, either all good or all bad. I wanted to show characters that were truer to my experience – a little bit of both. There is a fascinating dichotomy between the simple. natural beauty of these rural locations and the deeply complex relationships between the people that inhabit them. Those two elements come together to form the world of ‘Hungry Dog Blues’ and hopefully give a more interesting and thought-provoking representation of where I am from.”
The film will be available to stream nationwide beginning Tuesday, April 25, on digital platforms, including on DirecTV, Dish Network, Sling TV, Amazon, Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play and YouTube Movies.
Abrams’ father died last year, the same year “Hungry Dog Blues” premiered in St. Louis.
“My father survived his ordeals but unfortunately passed away in late 2022 before the film’s release. The silver lining, however, is that he was able to see the finished film before the end and thankfully, loved it,” he said. “My hope for the film is to be able to bring some stranger somewhere a bit of joy and entertainment as they watch a relatable, if not far-fetched, story.”
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