SYNOPSIS

Xander Berkely, Anson Mount, and Ryan Donowho explode on the screen in this visceral tale about three generations of meth addicts living in the piney woods of East Texas.
Living in a small town and amongst a house full of crystal meth abusers, seventeen year-old Abe (Donowho) wrestles to beat an addiction to meth and struggles to protect himself and his young niece from an abusive Uncle Bump (Mount). When Sonny (Berkeley) returns home from prison seeking redemption from his son, Abe, the two must navigae the treacherous waters created by Bump, who will do almost anything to maintain a dangerous lifestyle fueled by crystal meth.
The tension and suspense build up to an electrifying ending where harrowing choices are made by all three men leading each of them to a different fate.
Unlike any other movie, COOK COUNTY unflinchingly tells a raw and real story of rural life where crystal meth dictates the family dynamic.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

COOK COUNTY is the story of an abused and alienated teenage boy wrestling with an addiction to crystal meth while living in a house full of crystal meth addicts. Set in the deep woods of East Texas, Abe (Ryan Donowho) faces a bleak existence with few opportunities. He's a high school dropout with virtually no contact to the world outside his small town. Making things even worse is Abe's abusive uncle, Bump (Anson Mount), who runs a mom and pop meth lab out of the kitchen and lives life on the edge with a meth-fueled craziness. Bump peddles meth to his neighbors and terrorizing Abe with hair-trigger pinache. Bump's "meth" parties fill the house with the worst types and endanger the lives of Abe and Bump's six year-old daughter, Deandra (Makenna Fitzsimmons).
A spark of hope emerges when Abe's father, Sonny (Xander Berkeley), unexpectedly returns home from a two-year prison sting. Sonny immediately provides some protection to Abe and Deandra, shielding them from Bump's antics, yet Sonny and Abe struggle to find common ground. Sonny also struggles to find a job, and on top of that, is being pushed by federal agents to help root-out drug dealers in the area. Unknown to Bump or Abe, Sonny soon begins handing over old friends to the authorities.
The pressure mounts on Sonny as he tries to balance his quest for redemption in the eyes of Abe and the urge for self-preservation amidst the storm being brought upon him by federal agents. It becomes clear that Sonny must reconcile his past and pay his debts in order to salvage any semblance of a relationship with his son.
As the story unravels, Bump's behavior spirals and the safety of Abe and Deandra reaches a panic level. At the peak of chaos, and with Sonny away from home, Abe is chased by Bump in a race to save Deandra, who has been rented out for nothing more than money to buy meth. At a crossroads of saving or losing Deandra forever, Abe is backed into a corner where he finds Bump's shotgun propped up against the wall. When Sonny returns to discover the remnants of a horrific scene, his personal road to redemption becomes clear. In the culmination of an electrifying ending, Sonny sacrifices himself in the hope of giving Abe and Deandra the lives they deserve.

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