Director: Rene Perez
Year: 2017
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Becoming lost in the wilderness, a stranded woman finds shelter at a remote mountain lodge where a group preparing for the owners' arrival takes her in, only to find themselves beset by a ravenous, psychotic serial killer who escaped from a local voyeur and tries to get out of the situation alive.
Review:
This here proved to be quite the enjoyable and exciting slasher. Much like the other entries, where it improves with each effort, this one offers a strong improvement over the previous entries. Most of that is the fact that this one decides to improve the atmosphere of the settings, which really ramps up the suspense featured in the scenes. The opening ambush in the underground mines is a fantastic, chilling opening with the killer not only stalking the performer in the game but the team trying to keep him in line as he escapes daringly, setting up the rest of the film.
This sets up the tone rather nicely by moving onto the main action of the film with the attacks on the cabin, including the ambush in the garage where he picks on the helper attempting to prepare a vehicle to leave, the first few surprise attacks in the cabin where he appears in some quite frantic and chilling scenes while the main battle in the house where the two survivors engage in some fine stalking and battling throughout the house. The finale outdoors in the snow is just as enjoyable with the continuous cat-and-mouse games and escape attempts that take place here, which has a really strong driving energy to the whole affair and has some nice action to go along with the blood and gore during the kills.
Given the fine house featured for the majority of the film alongside the snowy wilderness and the continuation of the fun generated by the killer, there's quite a lot to like here that holds it up over the few minor flaws featured here. What really seems to undo this one is its lack of overall clarity about what's going on. Hardly anything is explained at all here, from the purpose of the killer's official reasoning for the rampage in the catacombs, why the decision was made to remove the original employer from the computer monitors on the occasion, and why the whole group is coming up to the cabin in the first place. This is a common problem in the series where it never explains anything, and the trend continues here, with this one not only leaving these questions unanswered but also leaving so many elements changed around from the other entries, which is a bit of an issue. As well, the moments where it's obvious the low budget comes shining through are what hold this one back, but it's not enough to completely throw this one out.
Overview: ***.5/5
A fun and highly enjoyable effort in the series, there's a lot to like with this one, as it continues the upward trend of the series getting better with each installment. Those who are fans of the series up to this point, appreciate indie slashers like this, or who are curious about the style in general will want to give it a shot, while most others out there should heed caution.
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