Director: Joe Bandelli
Year: 2015
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: Seclusion
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Heading out to a cabin in the woods, a bridal party preparing to celebrate the occasion with a group of friends find themselves stalked and hunted down one-by-one by a strange killer out to interrupt their festivities and must find a way to escape the woods alive.
Review:
On the whole, this one wasn't too good on a slasher. Among finer points involved here is the rather well-done stalking scenes that give this one its genre aversion. From the initial attack on the loner out in the woods, this one sets up some solid scenes here with the ambush in the bedroom or the sequence in the woods where a tracking unit searching for the killer in the darkness, there's some rather enjoyable scenes here while getting setup for the finale. The second half is where this picks up the fine attacks as the body count grows and the killer arrives to dole out some fun chases around the cabin from the axe-wielding killer, generating an incredibly fun and brutal brawl with the killer along the way. Coupled with some nudity and and the atmospheric rainstorm during the film, these are what hold this one up over its flaws.
Among the main flaws featured here is the films' rather obvious and clear low-budget detail that runs rampant, from the small cast and confined, one-location setting which really signal this one as being really cheap and low-budget. That it's really about the small group taking place at this one location rings the most about the shoestring affair, but the rather bland main storyline being featured here dominates this one to the point of forgetting the slashing as the different antics about the groups' extramarital activities which really aren't that interesting.
That also leads into the other big flaw found here in that the actual slashing is quite underwhelming. Very few of the stalking scenes here do much other than break up the monotony of their lives and it really doesn't help that this has some rather blandly-executed scenes. The action in the beginning is negated by the sheer incomprehension of the sequence taking place in the darkness, a couple of the deaths manage to be off-screen and when they are shown it's quite hum-drum affairs that don't feature much beyond that interruption of the energy. That also applies to the rather lame and ridiculous motivation for the killing spree as there's some incredibly lame reasoning here to try to get this plausible and it still makes for a cliched and nearly impossible scenario.
The cast here is about as good as the rest of the material. The lead Grant, played by Matthew Wise, is quite dull and uninteresting due to being so aloof and blase about his own marriage and makes for a bland presence. His bride Sarah, played by Chelsea Alsip, goes slightly better as she seems slightly more engaged to be there and that happiness is quite apparent at first, but the hysterical whining and frozen expression she has once the killings start is a fine resourceful way of keeping her importance negligible. His friend Dani, played by Nicole Parent, is the last person of note being the athletic, one-of-the-guys style who gives this some noteworthy energy even though she does strangely disappear during the finale. The rest of the cast, from Duane Nokia Cooper as Carter the token Black Guy, Allysin McKenzie Wells as Trish the slut and Jackie Byrne as Beth the fifth wheel, don't leave any real impression one way or another which really speaks to the low-budget nature of this one. These here are what hold this one back.
Overview: */5
A very problematic and troublesome effort, this one offers a few decently enjoyable slasher setups that aren't enough to overcome the more detrimental flaws present in here. See this only if you're a hardcore slasher completist or interested in low-budget indie genre fare, while those looking for more substantial efforts should be well advised to seek caution.
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