Michael Bartlett (director)
Signature Entertainment (studio)
15 (certificate)
98 mins (length)
20 October 2014 (released)
05 October 2014
When two kids go missing from the family home and a state wide search is called, everyone is worried and a curfew is called. Two brothers break the curfew and go out in order to meet some girls and drink some beer. When the fun fails to show up they decide to burn some fireworks and call it a night. Their discovery of an abandoned treehouse and one of the missing kids, leads them into a world of horror and pain.
When two kids go missing from the family home and a state wide search is called, everyone is worried and a curfew is called. Two brothers break the curfew and go out in order to meet some girls and drink some beer. When the fun fails to show up they decide to burn some fireworks and call it a night. Their discovery of an abandoned treehouse and one of the missing kids, leads them into a world of horror and pain.
Wow, I couldn't believe that a film with a premise that is for the most part simple horror fodder could be quite so good. Well shot, produced and edited, this film eletrified the screen! With acting that is superior for this sort of work, with both Dana Melanie and J. Michael Trautmann playing it for real and getting you firmly into their world. They are excellent and deserve solid praise. Often you find one good performance in a feature like this. An example recently was Shayla Beesley in Reaper. These performances bring you both a level of compassion and connection but also empathy. Hard to do in a film that would have been a run of the mill slash and shot in others hands. Their performances make you care and also make compelled to watch on. When a film like this places you directly into the events, this isn't just acting but it that is a great start.
So what else worked to make me have this reaction? The film is atmospheric, well directed and controlled. This builds its structure and helps rack up the tension of the events. I really liked the scenes in the tree house, the farm house and the very oppressive environment of the woods. These sets are crafted superbly and with real emphasis on the unsettling nature of the common, like a simple tree house which when it turns sore, turns really sore. The horror is not graphic and I felt this helped as if it was unreal or a gore fest then it is seen at a distance. A distance which numbs the emotion and this film doesn’t do this, which is a well done to the film makers for holding back. Also this reality of violence and horror made it even more immediate and unsettling.
It has been a rave so far and yet it is not all good news. Now there are two problems with the film and they aren’t massive issues. If I am honest it is just two underlying thoughts really but it bugged me enough and made me deduct two marks. The first is simple, why does it end like it does? Do you really want a sequel? The film was brilliant but really guys! I imagine this is less the film makers idea and after some research it seems that the films end is the completion of the leads arc rather than the cut...lets wait for part two! The second is practical. The film is in a universe of another’s creation and we keep thinking back to great films and seeing it ripped here. Only slightly mind but it does really live in the world of Wrong turn and Texas Chainsaw and in these films component pieces. Do not directly steal an idea from each so referentially please! On the other hand it could be my familiarity has breed this...
Still a great film!