20140219: Horror Review--YellowBrickRoad

YellowBrickRoad

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2010, rated R, 98 minutes, horror, thriller.
2. IMDB: 4.7/10.0 from 3,466 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 500,000 USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 44% on the meter; 30% liked it from 1,871 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.7/5.0 from 189,828 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton.
6. Starring: Cassidy Freeman as Erin Luger, Anessa Ramsey as Melissa Barnes, Laura Heisler as Liv McCann, Lee Wilkof as Clerk, Daryl Freeman as Daryl Luger.


2. Setup and Plot
1. In 1940, the residents of Friar, New Hampshire walked up a mountain road.  They were not seen again.  The film starts with a recreation of part of the Army's subsequent investigation. In 2008, the coordinates of the trail head are declassified.  A group bands together to investigate the incident.


2. The group is well equipped.  They bring a six wheeled vehicle of some sort, multiple cameras, a high-quality sextant, GPS, compasses, maps, tents, and all manner of other things.


3. After the music and the noise starts, things start to go downhill.  About the same time, the compasses start to wobble or spin.  The GPS gives wildly variable and always false readings.  The noise is intermittent and so loud that hands-over-the-ears is not enough to keep it from being debilitating.  Their two-way radios become unreliable.


4. After one of the men kills Erin over a hat, the sanity of the group just drops off a cliff.  They cannot agree on a way back, since their travel notes are gibberish.  They split into smaller groups.  One character jumps to her death.  One character implores a woman companion to kill him; she eventually snaps his neck after he tells her how to do it.  A man kills himself after filming a good-bye.  Early on, there is a scene about the dangers of nightshade.  Later a character commits suicide using nightshade.


5. Does anyone survive?  Does anyone figure out the mystery that instigated the trek?  Watch for the final seconds after the closing credits; a few images (supposedly) from the Army investigation are shown.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary:  Well-appointed modern twenty-somethings follow the path of a doomed march made in 1940.
2. One star of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Often OK, but has shaky cam now and then.


2. Sound: 0/10 Huge dynamic range, which is quite irritating. Make that worse than irritating.  To hear its meaningless conversations, one needs to turn the sound up.  A lot.  To avoid breaking the speakers, or getting a visit from the cops, one needs to turn the sound down, down, down.  The sound alone renders this film a failure.


3. Acting: 3/10 I liked Cassidy Freeman's (Smallville) performance fairly well.  I cannot say the same for the rest of the cast.  The +3 is for Ms Freeman alone.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Pointless.  Was the original purpose of the expedition achieved?  Not even remotely.  Did the dead characters gain any enlightenment before death?  No.  The ending was just one more fall into insanity.