In Jenn Wexler’s directorial debut, The Ranger, a group of young punks get in trouble with the cops and flee the city. Fueled by a hallucinogenic drug called Echo, they hope to lie low in the woods, only to find themselves pitted against the local authority — an unhinged park ranger with an axe to grind.

“Jeremy Holm plays the ranger,” says Wexler, whose previous credits include producing Mickey Keating’s Darling and Ana Asensio’s Most Beautiful Island. “He’s in Mr. Robot and House of Cards and he’s just f—ing awesome. I can’t wait for people to see him in this movie. Chloe Levine, who’s in The Defenders and The OA on Netflix, plays one of the punks named Chelsea. Then we have Amanda Grace Benitez, who’s in All Cheerleaders Die, and Bubba Weiler, and Granit Lahu, and Jeremy Pope. It’s a great ensemble cast.”

Wexler co-wrote the script for The Ranger with an old friend, Giaco Furino.

“We went to college in Philadelphia at the University of the Arts and this was his, like, senior screenplay,” says Wexler. “I was always so obsessed with the idea of punks vs. a park ranger. I felt that was something that should already exist in the world! [Laughs] There should already be some ’80s movie about punks that go up against a park ranger. So I always loved the concept, and then later, when I figured out how to make movies, I was like, ‘Yo, Giaco! Find that script and let’s make this!’”

The Ranger will make its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 12. More information about the film’s screening schedule can be found at the official SXSW website.