Adam Rehmeier takes an interest in outsiders that survives his moves between horror, comedy and crime. We are persuaded by the tenderness of Carolina Caroline, though its lovers give us more to recommend than its familiar plotting.
Fi1m perspective
Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner give Carolina Caroline (2026) a reason to follow two scammers through the American South: we enjoy their company. Adam Rehmeier directs their tender, funny partnership well enough to make a familiar crime romance worth an evening. We warmed to the pair because their humour makes the affection feel sincere, without requiring us to approve of their occupations. The heavier drama is less persuasive, and our recommendation comes with that reservation.
The distance from The Bunny Game (2011) to that romance is considerable. Rehmeier co-directed, shot and edited the extreme horror film, before writing and directing Dinner in America (2020), which later acquired a cult following. He also wrote and directed Snack Shack (2024), a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedy filmed in his Nebraska hometown. The personal material matters to our view of him: his interest in small-town life has roots in his own experience, rather than simply offering somewhere to set a story.
Gallner's presence in both Dinner in America and Carolina Caroline provides a useful link between those phases. Rehmeier's recurring collaborators also include cinematographer Jean-Philippe Bernier, with whom he has made three films. Across the changes of genre, misfits in small-town and suburban America remain a recurring concern. That gives us a more useful way of approaching his work than expecting another horror film, or another comedy, merely because he has made one before.
In Carolina Caroline, the sincerity is particularly welcome because the lovers-on-the-run story gives us so much we already recognise. We do not need every crime romance to reinvent the form, but we do need the relationship to justify another journey through it. Weaving and Gallner supply that reason; our enthusiasm is more qualified when the film asks them to carry its heavier drama. Start here for the lovers, provided a familiar crime story will not spoil the evening.
Biography
Adam Carter Rehmeier (born 5 August 1976) is an American film director, writer and cinematographer. He grew up in Nebraska City, Nebraska, the son of District Judge Randall Rehmeier. As a teenager he worked at the snack shack at Steinhart Park Pool. He attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for two years before transferring to Columbia College Chicago, where he studied film with a concentration in cinematography. He began his career as a documentary camera operator on low-budget features and touring with the jam band Phish.
Rehmeier is known for the coming-of-age films Dinner in America (2020) and Snack Shack (2024), both of which he wrote and directed. He also directed The Bunny Game (2011) and the 2026 film Carolina Caroline. Earlier credits include second-unit direction on Northfork (2003) and assistant director work on Stay Cool (2011).
