Beneath The Leaves

Four small-town boys are kidnapped by James Whitley, a warm-eyed psychopath. His grotesque pursuit to reunite orphaned children with their deceased birth parents is halted when the boys escape and he is arrested. Fifteen years later Whitley flees during a prison fire and decides to see his mission through. Detective Larson, once Whitley's prior victim, is removed from the case due to impartiality leaving his partner, and lover, Detective Shotwell to solve the case. Fueled by rage and a chance of redemption, Detective Larson chases the steadfast psychopath on his own only to fall back into the same trap he once escaped as a child.

Leans in on the old hat tropes and it leans in **hard**. But a genuine Doug Jones in the role of antagonist and a decent number of characters with a minimum of one character trait a piece instead of just being bodies on the screen is enough to bring the cheap 2019 crime drama _Beneath The Leaves_ back up to midling. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._