Director: Hope Madden
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
Heading out into the woods, a woman and her friend decide to participate in a gruesome obstacle course race where losers are killed by their respective partners instead of finishing everything, but when it finally turns to her she has to dig deep to find a means of surviving.
Review:
This was a rather enjoyable genre effort with a lot to like about it. One of the better features of this one stems from the way this one works the bizarre and generally off-kilter premise on display here. The central concept of the race being undertaken with the whole idea being to focus on the increasingly larger stages of difficulty present during this part of the film is a great way to set this up quite nicely with the interactions with everyone within the competition which makes for a rather fun setup. That goes along with the generally likable series of competitions that take place here which look like the kind of generally accessible features of this kind of story where it looks like a genuine setup without the kind of malicious articles expected here. With the special reveal that comes into play with the purpose behind the course and how it ties together between the various contestants and the course itself paints a special portrait of human desire that makes for a really fun setup to this one.
That becomes quite enjoyable when it starts to deal with the expectations of being in this kind of situation which leads to a slew of impressive kill scenes. Relying mainly on the use of strange encounters featuring one of the contestants suddenly snapping and turning on their partner which is taken out with the snap requiring some rather impressive practical effects work to pull it off, these scenes focus heavily on the creative use of their environment to pull off a creative and bizarre setup to then get finished off with the resulting kill afterward that has as much emphasis on the sudden surprise of it all as it is about the creativity to pull it off. It leads to a zany series of encounters here where each of the various groups of contestants are given enough time to get something fun here with their partners which keeps this one going along at a frenetic clip so it’s never really that dull. With some impressive characters also featured here to make this likable, these do manage to bring this one along rather nicely.
There are some issues present here that do hold this back. The main feature of this one is the way the bizarre sense of humor might not always land with everyone as it tends to wear out rather quickly. The wacky concept is a unique one that provides the kind of setup that’s ripe for this kind of comedy where the absurd nature is ratcheted up immeasurably by the contestants and their reactions to the scenarios present but those who are plagued by logic issues will have a difficult time getting into the humor presented here. How this whole thing carries on without anyone figuring out what’s going on, and what's happening is hard to understand, and the ability to buy into the nonchalant nature of the situation is quite difficult to buy here without much explanation. Even worse, this all manages to drain the fear from this one quite readily with the lack of care given to the situation so it never once feels like there’s any kind of stakes featured. With the low budget also shown off at points, these are what hold this one back.
Overview: ***.5/5
A generally fun and likable genre comedy even with some issues, there’s a lot to like here although those drawbacks are problematic enough to lower this down from where it should be. Those who enjoy this kind of indie fare or are curious about it will want to give this a shot while those who are turned off by the style or approach taken here should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment