Time for another current movie review – a horror flick starring Matthew Modine. He’s one of those unsung actors that quietly goes along stringing together terrific performances in movies and television. Plus, he is an avid cyclist, and even an activist about it – he heads up the Bicycle for a Day pro-cycling organization – another gold star in my book. See link:
Anywho, in this movie, Modine played Scott Shaw, the father of Jen Shaw, played by Charlotte Vega. Jen, her boyfriend Darius (played by Adain Bradley), another couple Adam and Milla (Dylan McTee and Emma Dumont), and gay couple Gary and Luis (Vardaan Arora and Adrian Favela). The group of six were on an adventure to hike part of the Appalachian trail in western Virginia. Foolishly spending a night in an old man bar in a small town in Virginia, they were warned to stay on the trail and not venture off. The next day, during the hike, to no surprise, Darius led them OFF THE FUCKING TRAIL (MCFLY… MCFLY!) to see an old civil war fort. And, again to no surprise, all hail broke loose on these six fools.
Now before we go any further, this was one of those movies – a group of young people got lost in the woods and were pursued by something/someone evil – where there are typically three antagonist scenarios. One – an unseen malevolence as in The Blair Witch Project. Two – a physical, supernatural evil such as Halloween, Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street series. Three – human evil as in the Deliverance hillbillies. I expected one of these scenarios in this movie and was pleasantly surprised when it was not the case.
Back to the movie, the group of six were suddenly under attack, and got picked off one by one. I won’t reveal any more of the plot as the ending had multiple surprises. A better way to add some more detail is by describing three factors of this movie: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good – there were multiple, unexpected twists at the end, and complex antagonists which did not fit the stereotype (my big, fat head went directly to Deliverance) that first comes to mind.
The bad – I hate when people do really stupid things – like a group of young kids that includes an interracial and gay couple going to an old man bar in a hick town… and then arguing with them. Or when they tried to outrun a rolling log coming down a hill instead of just running 90 degrees from its moving direction. Jiminy Christmas, who hasn’t heard similar rip tide swimming advice a million fricken’ times whilst at the beach? Or lying to and mocking people that have captured you and have you on trial… for murder. Or knowing that booby traps were everywhere, how did the hired gun not see the obvious one that did him in?
Finally, the ugly – there were multiple gruesome and graphic killings. But hey, this was a horror flick, right? Gruesome is good in this genre. So have we circled back to good? I believe so, my friends!
As expected, Matthew Modine did a terrific job In his role. Unexpectedly, so did everyone else.
Enough yammering on about this one – it was a sleeper and well worth watching. But don’t go hiking on the Appalachian trail anytime soon after watching it!
9 out of 13 Billy Bob teef