Director: Gregory Jacobs
Year: 2007
Country: USA/United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Ghosts
Plot:
Going home for the holidays, two college students hook up on campus and drive home to Delaware only to crash into a snowbank on a deserted road where they find that the road is haunted by ghosts that have died at the location and try to stay alive while fending off the ghosts.
Review:
This one had some decent stuff to it. Among the better qualities here is the fact that there's an extremely creepy atmosphere here that works really well for the film that creates an extremely thrilling sense which this one does. The best of this is the early scenes of them driving around with the snow-covered landscape surrounding them which is where the film really scores as the more time spent feeling cramped and isolated due to the location it develops a great eeriness about itself which is a nice plus. The ones of them driving through the woods are just as good, and it leads into the action-packed car crash scene which is a nice highlight. The first scenes of them stuck in the car where they realize the ghosts are out there waiting around the spot for them and are forced to try several tactics to get free and get help. These are all well-done and interesting since the methods of escape are nicely done which includes the fine series of attempts to confront them only to learn the truth about their interactors makes for a series of great scenes as these are all a rather nice way of making sure to keep the whole thing creepy. The interaction with the ghosts, either the creepy walk down the highway where they get confronted by the ghosts in the woods or the flashbacks to the ghostly attacks from the past that tells of the backstory for the location and sets up the fine scenes on the car, there's enough from these to stay interesting in the proceedings.
Basically being a two-person show, this one really relies on it's two leads to hold this one up. An early role for Emily Blunt as the girl gives a great indication of where she would be going in later years with a fine performance here. Although she does border on being a bit too old for the role of a college student, the disconnected and straightfocused student-style look she has here manages to work rather nicely with the first half which is well-played as to be expected and gives us a nice intro to her. It does fall off in the second half where it descends into basically looking worried over the ghosts coming into play or shock over the revelation to be made but she still manages to remain a sympathetic figure. The guy, played by Ashton Holmes, initially appears as somewhat nervous and babbling who has a hot girl in his midst and is trying to win her over by playing cool, yet the second half's twist about him does downplay that somewhat significantly which does change out thoughts on him. Regardless, he plays it well and the skeevy nature of his character is handled well. As well, the ghosts themselves look really great, covered in goo and debris that gives their appearance a really eerie look, and the fact that it plays with realism when dealing with the elements are the film's good points.
There was some slight flaws to it as the fact that, despite the impressive atmosphere on display, the beginning to this is terribly boring. There's very little action to it, and what occurs is either endless scenes of them out on the road talking to each other or lame attempts at scares, such as the locked bathroom, and none of them are all too engaging. These just go by so slowly that it takes a lot out of the film and makes getting into it a rather hard with it's slow-going nature. There's also a rather big one here at the ending, as the film's conclusion is a rather confusing mess. It's really hard to make out what happens as it goes back and forth between the real world, which affects the ghost world, and how the real world's actions have affected the ghost world and back again, leaving it incredibly confusing and just somewhat irritating as it just sort of ends without really feeling that something really important happened in that time. That is not the kind of feeling a film wants to end with, as it sort of sours the whole experience considerably, but overall, these here are the film's flaws.
Overview: *** 1/2/5
An enjoyable enough if still somewhat flawed effort, this has enough to really like overall here to be worthwhile and enjoyable which manages to make this a pleasant surprise overall. Give this a chance if you're into these kinds of atmospheric slow-burn style ghost films or are into the creative side of this one, while those looking for a slightly more upbeat and engaging effort should heed caution.
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