20131030: Horror Review--The Lost Tribe

The Lost Tribe

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2009, rated R, 100 minutes, horror.
2. IMDB: 3.7/10.0 from 1,036 audience ratings. Estimated budget, one million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' and 20% liked it from 407 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.9/5.0 from 340,824 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Roel Reine.
6. Starring: Emily Foxler as Anna, Nick Mennell as Tom, Mark Bacher as Joe, Brianna Brown as Alexis, Hadley Fraser as Chris, Terry Notary as Alpha Male, Lance Henriksen as Gallo.


2. Setup and Plot
1. In the opening sequence, a woman archaeologist and her team make a big discovery, a skull that is not quite human.  At least the team was very excited about it.  The Church sends Gallo to dispatch her, which he does.


2. We do a jump shift to a boat at sea.  Anna, Tom, Joe, Alexis, and Chris are on their way to a potentially rich business meeting.  They rescue a man that's been left to drift at sea.  He's out of his mind, for some reason.  When most people are asleep, the rescued man takes control of steering and crashes the boat into an island.


3. Their advanced location devices fail, but the radio works, and they give the Coast Guard their last approximate position.


4. They find left over equipment from Gansis Research, which is supposedly connected to NYU.  They also encounter someone/something which has a cheesy invisibility screen; shades of Predator.  The next morning, Tom and the Gansis gear are both gone.  The remaining four pursue.


5. Something picks off Alexis, lifting her into the canopy, then dropping her to the ground.


6. The three survivors find a video that they watch.  It involves the 'lost tribe' a missing link (or dead end?) in human evolution.  Supposedly the Roman Catholic Church would be upset about this since this would 'prove' that God did not create man on the sixth day.


7. Gallo kills Joe, and was about to kill Anna, when something kills him instead.  It was one of the lost tribe, who scares Anna, but goes back into the jungle.


8. Chris is barely alive, and Anna watches the lost tribe Alpha Male kill him for a snack.  The copying of Predator is repeated in regard to camouflage, and the lone survivor against heavy odds.


9. Will Anna survive?  Will the Coast Guard arrive in time?


3. Conclusions
1. Tough call.  Three stars seemed to low, four too high.
2. One line summary: Small business group encounters Murphy's law and a lost tribe of humans.
3. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10, Gorgeous in daylight exteriors, better than usual in dark scenes.  The final 10 minutes or so looked like it had a different cinematographer of lesser talent.


2. Sound: 10/10 Nicely done.


3. Acting: 8/10 Better than I expected.


4. Screenplay: 6/10  Was it ever adequately explained why anyone would care about this lost tribe?  No.  Could a skinny, non-athletic woman survive any hit by these ultra-strong animals?  No.  Yet she survives what, 15 or so, plus a forty foot drop from a tree?  I don't think so.