The Hostage Reviews

Martins stars in this taut, low-budget drama as a six-year-old boy who finds himself trapped in a moving van (filled with his family's belongings) that is being driven by two murderers, the brutish O'Kelly and the weak-willed Stanton. After miles on the road, the killers stop in a deserted area to bury the corpse of their victim. Upon discovering the boy, they realize that he is an eyewitness to their crime and he must be silenced. Sensing he is about to be killed, Martins flees to the nearby farmhouse of an elderly couple. Unfortunately, when O'Kelly arrives in pursuit of the boy, he is able to convince the couple that he is Martins' father and that the boy has run away. The old folks turn the boy over to O'Kelly. Meanwhile, Martins' real parents have launched a massive manhunt for the missing child and the cops are hot on the killers' trail. Fearful of O'Kelly, but sympathetic to young Martins' plight, Stanton finally stands up to his evil partner and, after a nearly fatal crash, turns the boy over to the authorities and resigns himself to his fate.