Director: Letia Clouston
Year: 2016
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Arriving at a remote cabin, a group of girlfriends looking to help one of their members get over a traumatic event that happened to them years ago which turns into a nightmare when they find the killer they stopped years ago might have returned, forcing them to stop him again to get away alive.
Review:
Overall, this was a massively underwhelming if still decent enough effort. When this one manages to get going, it has quite a lot to like with the idea of what's going on at the cabin and whether or not the killer is actually after them. Although the stalking and slashing start in earnest just shy of the halfway point of the film, this manages to signal the start of the film turning into a genuinely enjoyable thriller involving the group coming together to realize they might be targeted by someone they know and have to band together to survive. The start to this with the discovery of their friend attacked and bearing signs that it’s him, this takes on a slew of intriguing setpieces where they take the fight to the masked madman hanging out around the cabin and the surrounding woods leaving this one with a frenetic and vicious finale.
Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot here to enjoy. The main issue with the film is the absurdly long time it takes to get going, with the film attempting to shine a light on their friendship quirks and traumatic behavior but doing nothing else interesting with that material. Featuring interminably long scenes with the group sitting around the house talking about drinking, how catty they are being with each other, or their disappointing sex lives that are designed to give a bit of insight into their personalities yet do little beyond stretch out a running time that didn’t deserve it, the first half is a struggle to get any kind of interest going for it. That goes along with the series of issues involving how the killer can get the drop on them, which gives the scenes some underwhelming focus, with the whole thing being quite obvious and painful to sit through.
That goes for the other big issue with this one in a lackluster story that doesn’t make for all-that-interesting a time here. The central setup is so confusing and poorly explained that it’s hard to tell what’s going on with the group as the whole setup for why they kill the guy at the party is such a clouded incident for everything, it sets the group up to be hard to get behind. Likewise, with the entire rampage so clearly attributed to one of the group members despite setting up plenty of evidence to counter everything, there’s so little to this one that strikes as original or creative that it tends to hang over the film as a whole which, along with the other drawbacks here, do hold it down.
Overview: *.5/5
An intriguing if somewhat problematic slasher, there’s enough here to make it likable for what it is while still being let down by the negative factors into being this kind of underwhelming genre effort. Those with an interest in this kind of style, are unbothered by the flaws, or are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here while most others out there will want to heed extreme caution.
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