This is the kind of mid-budget thoughtful thriller you just don't see anymore. Pitt somehow makes a simple yokel who kills innocent people like swatting flies, and isn't beyond beating and raping women, somehow charming. He's funny, terrifying, good looking and lucky - a movie monster who deserves a place alongside Hannibal Lector.

The set-up is wonderfully simple, as Duchovny and his wife, metropolitan liberal artists, drive to 'K'alifornia with Pitt and Lewis' trailer trash couple, in the hope of sharing the travel costs. Big mistake. Duchovny's writing project about serial killers turns practical when they learn about Pitt's true nature. Will the gun-shy wet liberal writer learn what it means to become a killer when lives depend on it?

The film builds at a steady pace, slowly cranking up the awkwardness as Michelle Forbes' Carrie becomes increasingly repulsed by Pitt and his treatment of Lewis. An hour in she gives the naive Duchovny an ultimatum, "them or me, and Pitt's murderous rage is unleashed. The film doesn't hold back with the blood, but what really sickens is how Pitt makes light and jokes as he takes innocent lives, even to their loved ones, as the screaming women plead for him to stop.

It's not a perfect film but it's a neat portrait of a serial killer and a very effective tension piece, featuring an unusual combination of stars before their individual careers took off.