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Don't Even Bother Looking For The YellowBrickRoad (Review)

With a setup of such nature you’d expect something vile lurking quietly, stalking in the dense foliage. You’d expect wrong however. The story takes an awkward, though reasonably original turn when the group begins experiencing strange noises, bouts of paranoia, hallucinations and sheer panic as they trek through the woods.

Given that information, you can probably safely assume that conflicts elevate, and death ensues. Here in lie a few entertaining scenes; one shot in particular deals with dismemberment, and after an hour plus of virtually zero phycal drama, it’s a reasonably satisfying set of circumstances. Unfortunately, that one specific scene is the most stimulating aspect of the film.

http://youtu.be/oeGMxE2vYlg

Watching with a technical eye I can see what filmmakers Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton aimed to do: provide a frantic character study that begins light heartedly, and ultimately culminates in hopeless terror. That said, there are too many minor flaws to find the precion required to tag the bulls-eye, but the arrow doesn’t completely miss the target.

The film makes some early auspicious strides. The cast is solid, and rather than a group of annoying twenty-somethings, we’ve got a handful of goal oriented adults, and a few characters of genuine substance. The motivation for investigating the mysterious “YellowBrickRoad” is believable, and the scenery is serviceable. However that’s just about where the logic and precion ends.

http://0.tqn.com/d/horror/1/0/n/t/0/-/Yellowbrickroad-05.

From there it’s downhill as we watch this crew respond in implauble fashion to a series of unsettling events; mysterious muc doesn’t seem to initially bother this troupe, in fact they seem briefly entertained by it, despite their desolate location. Glaring topographical inconstencies go all but ignored until it’s far too late. These are just a few of the odd character reactions we’re subjected to.

In all honesty, it feels as though both Holland and Mitton blew their loads while writing the films first reel, so to speak. From the half-hour point forth the train derails, and never again so much as spots the tracks. Perhaps most insulting is the complete disregard for the film's finale; it's as anticlimactic as they come, and really offers no big reveal, no final showdown, no final... satisfaction!

http://0.tqn.com/d/horror/1/0/p/t/0/-/Yellowbrickroad-07.

I’m a big fan of bloody-digusting.com, but this Bloody Disgusting Selects offering is a film I’d have to recommend pasng on; select something else!

Grade: D+