Minneapolis City Pages Review:

"This outstanding 15-minute short from local director Gregg Holtgrewe (co-directed by his brother Tim) compresses the tale of a kidnapping into a pile-up of claustrophobic images; the storytelling is like the account of a patient who’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. A couple argues in a parked car. Three masked men pull them from the vehicle and take them to an isolated garage. Desperate for cash, the masked men load the two victims into the trunk and set off to search for a promised stash. Compiled by editor Mike Kolloen from footage intended for a feature (which Holtgrewe plans on releasing in the fall), "Unhinged" is stripped of all back story and extraneous dialogue; the film simply thrusts its characters into emotional freefall and never looks back. In his previous features, including Waiting All Day for the Green Face of the Hummingbird (If I Were a Lily), Holtgrewe has shown a knack for drawing out moments of paralyzing vulnerability; here, the material itself seems equally vulnerable. Mostly (de)constructed in no-escape shakycam, jump-cut together as if the editor were trying to eliminate every impertinent instant, “Unhinged” nonetheless delivers some moments of quiet desperation. In one, a kidnapper (Paul Cram) gives a terrifying deer-in-the-headlights look that seems, at least for a moment, like it will last forever." - (John Behling)