Director: Roger Boyer
Year: 2015
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: Dark 4rest
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Taking a roadtrip together, a group of girlfriends take a friend away from her abusive boyfriend for a camping trip out in the woods only for the psychotic boyfriend to snap and drive out to the forest to get her back killing anyone in his path and forcing them to try to get out alive.
Review:
This was a decent enough and watchable slasher. One of the more enjoyable aspects of this one is the rather strong amount of confrontation scenes involving the killer out on his rampage. There's plenty to like here about the short shock stalking scenes of the killer snapping, from the opening ambush at the house where he takes out the lone dissenter among his friends in front of the other, the first attack of the couple lost in the woods at their car as well as the second set of campers out in the woods which is a series of shorter shots showing him leaping out of the shadows to take them out. The confrontations at the campsite where he takes them hostage and has to chase them through the woods leading to some decent brawls between the girls and the killer that gets somewhat brutal at times. Given that this offers up some energy and momentum in the final half and finishes this off with some nice, solid gore as well. Given that nearly everything drives this one forward without too much downtime throughout here, that leaves this one with a solid pace as well which all-told give this one it's positive elements.
The cast here is better than expected here but don't really have much to go on. The main lead, Michelle played by Veronica Ternopolski, doesn't do much here beyond being the calmer and more rational of the group which separates here from them somewhat. She does get to do the martial arts sequence which doesn't have too much too applaud about it but she looks capable as a rough and ready-to-fight individual. The one we're supposed to think is the lead, Emily played by Laurel McArthur, disappears into the background as the abused girl. Meek and quiet, she doesn't do much and doesn't really do much once she does get thrust into the limelight as she lets the others fight for her. Francine played by Jalaine Desloges comes off as the one least-familiar with being out in the woods so her scaredy-cat routine might be somewhat troubling, but overall she acquits herself well and her spunkiness definitely makes her memorable. The last member of the main group, Jolene played by Weronika Sokalska, comes off the most likable being given the role of videographer for the trip and offers some feistiness alongside the the rest of the girls. Although the other group is simply there for the enhanced body-count factor, nobody really does anything too distracting with their roles.
This one did have a few minor issues that hold it down. One of the biggest problematic areas here is the main villain who is one of the lamest and most laughable killers in the genre. The stereotypical abusive, controlling boyfriend who's addicted to his girlfriend and wants nothing else to happen to her as she's his property, this one gives us one of the weakest overall beings in the genre. There's nothing here about the abusive relationship that and why she stays in the first place, his killing method is rather goofy, what causes him to snap is extremely hokey and he's physically unintimidating which really lowers his scare factor even further. This is a major stumbling block in the film when it's supposedly scary lead is anything but, and this severely hampers the film. The other big problem here is the obviously low budget nature of this one, which runs throughout here from the short running time to the overall digital feel and the rather clunky choreography used for the confrontation with the killer that simply has a tone about it that really belies it's origins. That can be an issue to get over here, as these together really do the most damage to this one.
Overview: **/5
While it does have some flaws that come from it's low-budget background and the utterly laughable main killer, this one does feature enough positive points to make it entirely watchable at worst. This is mainly for the low-budget slasher or indie horror fans for the most part, while those that don't enjoy that aspect will be put off of this one entirely.
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