I watched this film last week at the closing night of SCREAMFEST in LA. I have been looking forward to it for a while. The online reviews have been split, some love it, a few did not. I was curious.
This is a very entertaining film. It doesn't break too much new ground as far as setup. You got your "teaser" scene with a baddie doing bad things, then you intro the "heroes" going camping, and then the sh*t hits the fan. It's here where the film is not like others. It hits the same beats, but the story was unique and creepy and weird. DELIVERANCE, Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and MISERY were 3 films it's similar to.
Most horror films, of late, spend the 1st 30 minutes introducing the main characters and their petty problems, but then once the "evil" element kicks in, all those problems and character traits go away. TIMBER FALLS introduced things in the beginning that paid off in the end. The two leads (Josh Randall and Brianna Brown) were great. Josh in particular.
But the best actors and most interesting characters are IDA and CLYDE. The warped couple. The tag-line says "deranged locals and a gruesome plot." Well, it's not like HOSTEL or CAPTIVITY or HILLS HAVE EYES. This was an actual real plot. The gruesome scenes made sense. Not just for shock value. There was a real story here and cheap gross out tactics were not needed.
It's also about 1/2 way thru the film when the dark humor comes in. And it pays off great. The film isn't pretentious and does not take itself too seriously. I think a couple of the negative reviews probably missed out on this. There are still great jumps and scare moments, but the film definitely provides a lot of tension breaker moments. The crowd went wild and reacted great at all of these. I don't think watching this movie at home on DVD will have the same impact as watching it in the theaters with an audience.
The cast and director were at the screening. They announced the film is coming out in theaters in December in select cities.
This is not THE EXORCIST. It's not so super scary all the way through and it seemed to have a "this might be a hit so we need to tack on an ending that could leave film open to sequel" ending. But it has a great story, great acting. Good scare moments. Some gross stuff and some real, intentionally funny moments. When you see it, remember this line, "Things are starting to get out of hand here, y'all." It brought the house down.
Very well done.
This is a very entertaining film. It doesn't break too much new ground as far as setup. You got your "teaser" scene with a baddie doing bad things, then you intro the "heroes" going camping, and then the sh*t hits the fan. It's here where the film is not like others. It hits the same beats, but the story was unique and creepy and weird. DELIVERANCE, Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and MISERY were 3 films it's similar to.
Most horror films, of late, spend the 1st 30 minutes introducing the main characters and their petty problems, but then once the "evil" element kicks in, all those problems and character traits go away. TIMBER FALLS introduced things in the beginning that paid off in the end. The two leads (Josh Randall and Brianna Brown) were great. Josh in particular.
But the best actors and most interesting characters are IDA and CLYDE. The warped couple. The tag-line says "deranged locals and a gruesome plot." Well, it's not like HOSTEL or CAPTIVITY or HILLS HAVE EYES. This was an actual real plot. The gruesome scenes made sense. Not just for shock value. There was a real story here and cheap gross out tactics were not needed.
It's also about 1/2 way thru the film when the dark humor comes in. And it pays off great. The film isn't pretentious and does not take itself too seriously. I think a couple of the negative reviews probably missed out on this. There are still great jumps and scare moments, but the film definitely provides a lot of tension breaker moments. The crowd went wild and reacted great at all of these. I don't think watching this movie at home on DVD will have the same impact as watching it in the theaters with an audience.
The cast and director were at the screening. They announced the film is coming out in theaters in December in select cities.
This is not THE EXORCIST. It's not so super scary all the way through and it seemed to have a "this might be a hit so we need to tack on an ending that could leave film open to sequel" ending. But it has a great story, great acting. Good scare moments. Some gross stuff and some real, intentionally funny moments. When you see it, remember this line, "Things are starting to get out of hand here, y'all." It brought the house down.
Very well done.