Very Good, but the Shatner character two-dimensional at best

Just saw this once it peeked my interest with Shatner, Corman and the subject matter. I had never heard of it. A really good watch, well acted low budget social drama.

The one thing that kind of bugs me is the Adam Cramer character. He gave a great performance, but was two-dimensional at best. I know the big reveal was that he was a salesman, but too naive to do it right, but who was he really?

We never got a view of the real Cramer. Why did he come to small town Missouri? When asked about his occupation he said "social reform". It's almost like a Twilight Zone episode. Cramer just does not seem like a real person, he said he comes from L.A. What? As an actor who decided to try his hand at racist preaching? (A bit of self-mythology about Shatner himself and his involvement in this movie?) Why does he hate blacks? Does he even hate blacks at all?

Just seems like an empty character used to reflect the locals' conflict on segregation. A good trick, but doesn't ring authentic at all IMO. Has anyone read the book? Is there more to him there?

UPDATE:

Looking up the book and author (book's kind of expensive) it turns out he is a Twilight Zone author. That explains why this feels that way. It wasn't presented as a supernatural story though, are we to believe he is just a sociopath who quickly goes from cipher to chief to cipher again?

We’re trying to pretend as if these comic books don’t exist. - David Goyer on the DCEU