The Other Side of Darkness is an earnest thriller that fails admirably.  Written and directed by Adam Deierling, it’s the story of Taylor (Maggie Callahan), a foster child on the cusp of independence who is propelled into a thrilling adventure to reconnect with her father while a threat to kill the power grid in America looms. Either story is a compelling one. The problem is that the pair of elements never really coalesce into a single story. The disparate elements are aided by a trio of honest performances but it’s never enough to make it all feel like the same narrative.

We open with an ominous voiceover and montage pointing out society’s dependence on the grid and the electricity that fuels it. Certainly an opening that invites the audience to lean in. We then cut to plucky tomboy Taylor. Living under not-so-great foster care circumstances, Taylor is spending the summer working at an auto garage to squirrel away money for her future. After a particularly bad day at work, and an even worse day at her foster home, she receives a mysterious package that sends her to a storage unit containing a fully-fueled Jeep. With nothing else going on, Taylor sets off with bestie Hannah (Olivia Billings) and Hannah’s precocious brother Patrick (Drake Tobias) to locate the sender of this grandiose gesture.

The three arrive at the rural home of Jack (Scott C. Davis). Nestled in the woods of Virginia, Taylor wants to know who Jack is and what he knows about the jeep, and perhaps even Taylor’s birth family. Jack invites the three teens to stay at his home and soon enough the mystery begins to unravel. Oh, but don’t forget about the power grid subplot. Writer-director Deierling dots his scenes with updates on this story, but again, it just doesn’t gel. The threat of power loss seems like an afterthought to the far more interesting story of Taylor’s self-discovery and independence.

The good news is that Deierling excels not only in his casting but in gleaning sincere performances from his players. While Billings and Tobias offer the fine “awkward teen” performances, it is Callahan’s Taylor that holds the film. With fierce independence and occasional vulnerability, Each of Taylor’s decisions is relatable. It’s Callahan’s performance that sells the story.

Unfortunately, there are a handful of other issues that do more to hurt the film than help it. Deierling aspires to deliver a sweeping epic of grand adventure and thrills that just aren’t there. Glorious shots of the wide-open road are used a bit too much and are made worse by a forced score by Niklas Wempe that doesn’t so much suggest but screams the mood. A note on that; Wempe‘s work is actually very good here it’s just mishandled.

The Other Side of Darkness is a film that is true in its desire to entertain but in attempting to over-deliver it fumbles. Deierling has an eye for cinema and is one to watch for sure but this one is just a mildly entertaining exercise.