YellowBrickRoad
Oh, it has an ending...
I don't like The Blair Witch Project. I
had very little interest in it when it came out. Why I applaud their
ability to get a huge buzz and “go viral” before going viral
meant having lots of people watch a Youtube video of something
getting hit in the balls, it just didn't appeal. I didn't understand
what the big deal was about people getting lost in the woods and
“found footage”. Come on, they're not going to show a movie in
theaters across the country if people actually died. When the movie
came to cable, I finally watched it and all my feelings towards the
movie were confirmed. It was boring, rudderless, and annoying. By the
end, I was cheering for the witch to kill them before someone
screamed about that goddamn map again. Perhaps if the movie had a
bigger budget, a deeper story and, you know, actors, maybe I would
have liked it. Today's review explores just that; Does a bigger
budget, story, and proper acting make a “lost in the woods” movie
better?
YellowBrickRoad is a 2010 horror movie
starring Michael Laurino as Teddy Barnes and Anessa Ramsey (The
Signal, Footloose) as his wife Melissa. In the 1940's, the entire
population of Friar, New Hampshire left town and walked up a winding
trail leading into the woods. They left everything behind and were
never found, leaving one survivor who was left a rambling, incoherent
madman. Teddy and Anessa decide to find the trail in hopes of
discovering new evidence and shedding light on what happened to the
town. They are joined by their friend and colleague Walter, mappers
Erin and her brother Daryl Luger, Jill the intern, and Cy Banbridge,
a local forester. Their information about the trail falsely leads
them to a movie theater, where a worker named Liv agrees to bring
them to the trail if they let her come along. Liv takes them to the
trail, marked by a rock with “Yellow Brick Road” written on it.
The trip starts off well enough as the group travels deep into the
woods. Walter is videotaping each crew member to ensure they still
have their mental faculties. As the trip progresses, they begin to
hear big band music blaring from an unknown source. At first, the
group enjoys it, but it begins to wear on them. The group begins to
break down and things come to a head when Daryl brutally murders his
sister Erin all because she took a hat that he found. Death follows
the group along with the inexplicable music. Will they reach the end
of the trail and what will be waiting for them?
This would be considered an "action" shot
It's easy to compare YellowBrickRoad
with The Blair Witch Project, but YBR has an interesting back story,
better acting, and some creative ideas. The audience is interested in
seeing what happens because the initial story of the townspeople
disappearing is legitimately interesting. The first half of the movie
holds our attention because of this, but unfortunately it's not
enough to keep us interested. The movie stretches on for far too long
with very little happening. Sure there are a few scenes of violence,
but any true horror fan won't bat an eye at the killings or gore. The
acting is good considering nothing really happens for most of the
movie. In The Blair Witch Project, I was cheering for the witch to
kill the annoying characters. In YellowBrickRoad, I was cheering for
something to happen.
My biggest issue with the movie (other
than being incredibly boring) is the ending. YellowBrickRoad was
clearly made on the cheap and emphasizes imagination over action.
That only goes so far and isn't enough to sustain an entire movie,
especially when the payoff is so bad. They tried so hard to be clever
and edgy and failed miserably. It's like they watched one too many
episodes of Twin Peaks and said “Hey, the audience has suffered
through this, let's totally fuck them over with an ending that makes
no sense and will mess with their minds!” While the usage of random
music playing is interesting and the weak connections to Wizard of Oz
keep us on our toes, there's no real payoff to any of it. It was all
a misdirection to keep the audience from walking out of the theater
or watching something else.
Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel
Despite having a bigger budget, a more
complex story, and better acting, YellowBrickRoad is just another
“lost in the woods” movie. The acting is good and the scenery is
very nice to look at. The movie has a few good ideas and for the
first half, I was legitimately interested in what was going to
happen. The movie fell apart when it was apparent that nothing of
note was going to occur and I was even going to get some violence to
keep me entertained. It became a chore to watch and the ending was
infuriatingly bad. It didn't come out of left field, it came out of
another park. I feel bad for anyone that paid money to see this
movie. YellowBrickRoad is simply not worth your time.
3/10
No comments:
Post a Comment