The Long Dark Trail (2022) by Kevin Ignatius and Nick Psinakis


Director: Kevin Ignatius, Nick Psinakis
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Cult

Plot:
After escaping from their abusive father, a pair of brothers set out to embark on a journey into the woods to find their mother who's joined a deranged cult, but the closer they get to finding her they find themselves at the mercy of their leaders' dark hold over the rest of the cult.

Review:

Overall, this one is decent enough but does have some big issues. One of the main factors for it is the rather eerie atmosphere featured throughout here as the two go about their journey. As their journey together is based mainly on them wandering through the wilderness trying in vain to stay safe while staying ahead of the violent visions that the older brother experiences depicting all manner of vicious encounters and visions with the main cult which bring about some great scenes here. As there's an uneasy quality to things the deeper into the woods they go and get closer to finding her, the change in tone that arises once they get to the compound offers up some chilling scenes with the finale generating a highly effective and enjoyable series of encounters that's enough to make for a generally fun time here.

There are some big issues with this one which is all pretty much a one-note occurrence throughout here with the dire pacing of this struggling to maintain enough storyline beats to last as long as it does. This is in desperate need of either trimming down to an anthology-style segment or some more fleshing out with the characters and their motivations as very little of this one manages to invoke any kind of fear with it basically being extended scenes in the forest of them together with an odd flashback remembering what their father did to beat them and the occasional glimpse of something in the woods with them. That only works so much before it grows repetitive and tiresome as this one relies on that can make for a draining effort here that doesn't completely derail this one but does bring it down.


Overview: **/5
Fine for what it is but still somewhat problematic as a whole, this one manages to get enough to like that it holds itself up over its flaws even though those do hold it down that didn’t need to be. Give this a shot if you’re intrigued by the material or are fans of the style attempted here while most others who are turned off by the style or approach should heed caution.

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