YellowBrickRoad review

YellowBrickRoad is a movie that was a hit originally when it aired at Sundance in 2010 but it stayed under the radar until it was finally released later in 2011 which may be one reason that it did not get that much notice from the critics.  On other hand, the fact that it was categorized as a horror film did not help since it may have been more aptly described as a bloody thriller film which could have helped build a broader audience for the film as well.

On paper the film has plausible premise that promises to be worth a watch given the fact it is about a town in New Hampshire named Friar during the forties when it is rumored that the entire population left their homes and went up a trail simply to disappear.  According to the trailer, the fates of these people was unknown for the past seventy years until one day a group of researchers stumble onto the trailhead and decide to follow it in an effort to see just what happened to the citizens and where they disappeared to.  From the story line and trailer it seems as if the film might just carry a punch.

However, the setup is actually a fake as any all of the action is already in the trailer and the film itself does not have much to add.  The storyline is not carried very well and quickly gets boring as does the dialogue in the film. The first twenty minutes or so seem to hold a great deal of promise but soon the action is slow and there is not enough happening to really hold the attention of the average viewer for the full 100 minutes.

Of course, the budget was not that high at just five million and given the fact the film was completed in just twenty days you can see why things kind of fall apart from here.  The entire thing feels a bit rushed and you end up feeling as if you could have seen a great film if just a bit more effort was put into the entire thing.