‘YELLOWBRICKROAD’ REVIEW: We’re not in Kansas anymore
The new horror film, YellowBrickRoad (no spaces for some reason), is a movie that features an appreciable premise with an interesting, albeit unsatisfying, payoff. There’s definitely a sense of eeriness about the film, but it never registers to a level of excellence.
In 1940, as the story goes, the entire population of a small New Hampshire town went missing after walking up a mysterious mountain trail. Some of their bodies were later found frozen and mutilated. One lone survivor could only mumble a few frightening words to the local authorities.
Almost 70 years later, the facts of the case are finally declassified, and a film crew decides to make the same fateful trek to discover what exactly happened to the townsfolk.
That brief summary is the only semblance of a plot that YellowBrickRoad can boast. There is never an explanation of why these modern-day characters feel so drawn to following in the footsteps of the missing. There is never an explanation of how the film crew is able to find the coordinates of this supposedly lost trail. Some of the characters fiddle with scientific equipment, but few details emerge.
There is not much explanation, period.
But still the movie works to a certain degree. When the characters leave the safety of the town and head into the brush, strange things begin to happen. Music from the 1940s can be heard in the trees. Whispers float through the air. And eventually invisible forces cause the characters to increasingly lose their sanity.
Directors Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton were obviously influenced by The Blair Witch Project, and yet this is not a cheap ripoff. YellowBrickRoad, which is released by AMC Independent and Bloody Disgusting Selects, stands as an original movie. Thankfully, the filmmakers chose to use traditional camerawork, rather than the often-overused “shaky cam” technique.
Another obvious influence is The Wizard of Oz, and the similarities to that classic film is where YellowBrickRoad finds its strongest points. If you watch the horrific proceedings closely, you will begin to realize that there are subtle hints to Dorothy and the cast of characters she meets in the land of Oz. It’s not a shot-for-shot remake, but there is obviously a correlation. (Can you spot the scarecrow? What year was the Judy Garland movie released? Isn’t it interesting that the trail begins in a movie theater?)
The unanswered questions and evident creepiness are worthy of applause. Too often suspense thrillers seek to tie up every loose-end. YellowBrickRoad prides itself on being nebulous.
The acting is passable. There are no duds among the cast of characters; however, the script doesn’t exactly offer the best lines of dialogue. One of the weaker points of the movie is that the characters all blend into one another. Except for the local girl who tags along for the trek (the great Laura Heisler), members of the film crew, led by Michael Laurino, have no distinctness. Their personalities are akin to the campers in Friday the 13th: just another body.
For the film’s climax, which I won’t reveal here, the directors are able to achieve a psychotic aura. The soundtrack plus the uneasy visuals all make for a headtrip like no other.
If there were just something to hold onto in the film (good characters, a slightly more coherent storyline), YellowBrickRoad would be a strong entry in the horror genre. Instead, the movie offers glimmers of worthiness.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
