_**A small town in the backwoods is infected by twisted legalism**_

A census bureau worker from Chicago (Jeremy Sisto) is assigned to a strange remote town in North Dakota whose population stays at 436. Will he make it out?

“Population 436” (2006) is a slow-burn mystery/horror in the mold of “The Wicker Man” (1973/2006) and the later “Apostle” (2018). If you favor those movies this is more of the same, but different enough to stand on its own. The movie has the confidence to take its time plus keeps everything realistic, relatively speaking.

The lovely Charlotte Sullivan stands out as a young woman in the town while Fred Durst, the lead singer of Limp Bizkit, plays the likable deputy.

The film runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot around Roseisle, Manitoba, about 50 miles north of the border of eastern North Dakota.

GRADE: B-/B