YellowBrickRoad

source: YellowBrickRoad

It is obvious that the good reviews are from people who benefit from or are friends of this movie. The movie has no redeeming value what so ever. It is a weak plot with little concept other then to say We are no longer in Kansas with out saying the words. The acting does not even rate as second rate acting unlike the rave reviews on the front page. It is sad that anyone can make a movie today and have it become a DVD when they have no talent. Although, the movie starts out with a decent premise it goes off track right from the beginning and continues to go off track. Some reviews don't get the fact how the movie ends. The only concept the movie has that people don't seem to get, is that it starts on a premise, it starts at the beginning and only 1 enters. The end is showing that unlike what was presented in the movie, only one experienced the story.

SPOILER ALERT This movie starts out with a great premise. You have a town where everyone except one guy disappeared in 1940. Well decades later a group of historians or whatever they are get information on it and retrace the steps of the townsfolk for the purposes of getting material to write a book. We aren't even told really who these people are. What are their skills or credentials? You are going to be given scenes of pseudo psycho babble "evaluations" one character does on the others which are never actually explained. Why does he do this? Dunno and by the end of the movie you won't care. This is a movie about the descent into madness caused by some external force that from what I can tell is never, ever explained. I mean this is so disappointing and frankly, this is lazy film making and shoddy story telling. Yes some of these artsy oriented film makers think this is solid work. It's not. This is lazy story telling. Why? Because in good story telling you have to come up with something that explains the central mystery. You have to take the reader or viewer from A to B and have it make sense. There are lots of ways to do this. Yellowbrickroad does none of this. Instead we have characters descend into madness. For example the first initial kill scene is stupid. One male character attacks a female character after she takes the vintage hat he found and was wearing. I sat there wondering why that scene didn't end up on the cutting room floor. After that the characters have the full on breakdown of the group and it makes no sense whatsoever. Yes, there's this mysterious music they are hearing and for effect the director cranks the volume from time to time to apparently shock you. Trust me. This fails miserably. In fact, all I did was turn down the volume when the music was cranked up. Now don't get me wrong. Sometimes I'm OK with a good open ended ending. Sometimes mystery is satisfying. In Yellowbrickroad that's not the case. The ending looks tacked on. Here's the spoiler so quit reading. The main character is struggling at the end crawling on the ground and then voila he's back in the town in the movie theater. He sits down to watch the movie of their adventure or whatever it was. We get a flash of the dead all around him and then some pictures on the screen and he, oh my god, yes he screams. Here are somethings any film maker reviewing this needs to keep in mind so as to not repeat the mistakes of this movie. 1. crisp clean clear images and film quality 2. proper microphone use 3. don't wash out the color when editing 4. don't use annoying sound effects to try to tell a story 5. explain your mystery with a logical or some kind of understandable conclusion I gave this movie a rating of 1 for awful because it is. This is a bad movie.

For the first 70 minutes of this film, I thought I had found my new favourite horror movie. There are sequences here that will take your breath away - IF you are a fan of true psychological horror and not the mainstream CGI crap that hits the multiplexes. The concept is fascinating, and the set-up is superb. The sound design of this film is flawless, and has one of the best uses of music I have ever experienced. The music... it's skin-crawling, and is almost a character in the movie. Likewise, the violence and gore. Very underplayed, timed well and not gratuitous. But when it hits, it's incredibly effective. But then something goes awry. The plot becomes muddled and almost self-important, the actions of the characters don't really add up... it almost feels like a different film than the intense, slow-burn of the first two acts. It reminded me of 'Insidious' in this regard; incredibly good for the first two thirds then becomes too hokey in its final reel. It's a shame, because this had the potential to be a genre classic. As it is, the unconvincing third act makes this an effective but ultimately unsatisfying film.

I'm surprised when USA get's decent ideas for horror you fling them away. I seen this both with Session 9 and this. Both amazing movies. This one here uses sound in a way I've never seen, the sound becomes the boogeyman, it unnerves and increases tension. I at first worried this would be some stupid slasher or some such. I was happily surprised as it all came together and only after seeing the ending again, I understand now what the end was about. This film isn't for light hearted Cinema goer, nor people who praise only horror classics. It's for people who love Cinema and good psychological horror, not overt and over the top. It's not for everyone, but I love it, glad I had BloodyDisgusting recommend it for me. Least they know what they're talking about.

I watched this film when I was sick with bronchitis. I was glued to the couch, coughing and hacking, watching this movie and wondering if I was hallucinating, or if the movie was really this freaking weird. The answer is a resounding 'yes.' This movie really is extremely weird. YellowBrickRoad is an assault on the senses, and I believe that was completely intentional. The visuals, the characters' reactions, the never-ending path, the hopelessness, the desperation, the cacophonous sounds-- all of these things created a unique and subtly terrifying environment. That said, I didn't necessarily find the movie scary, but I did find myself thinking about it for a few days after watching it. But, I wanted to like the movie more. I wanted more substance. I love movies with an pseudo-historical backdrop, and I wanted to know more about the town's former inhabitants and the path. I guess I wanted a bit more investigation and a bit less acid trip. Yet, I was left with the impression that the semblance of an acid trip was the writers' and director's intention. So, if you keep the film within its hallucinatory context of a deconstructed and wholly disturbing reality, you might glean some enjoyment out of it. Don't expect your typical horror fare, though, because this is a strangely unique plate that almost borders on experimental.

This coming from a jaded old horror hound like myself is saying a lot...this movie scared the crap out of me for the sound alone. The sound design in this movie was superb - many of the moments where the characters were being tortured with the discordance I too felt distinctly and even rather deeply uncomfortable by the audio which is surprising to me but fact. A gorgeous breath of fresh air amidst a sea of stock "generic, unlikeable teens go to location, romp and get killed in various, bloody ways" films. Solid acting, excellent pacing and tension, all-in-all a grand-slam for me. Highly recommended. Now I am left actually feeling jarred by the sounds I heard... think I'll go listen to some Boards of Canada or something.

Watch out. Mitton and Holland have made a film that gets under your defenses -- reeling you in with quirky, flesh and blood characters, a compelling storyline, eye-popping performances -- THEN it scares the crap out of you. The night I watched, there were gasps, and shrieks, and there were also some good-sized laughs. You sense that these two, young writer-directors could make any kind of film they want: they just happen to love horror. I suspect they cut their teeth on films from the golden age of psychological horror: Rosemary's Baby, Carry, The Shining. But they've been watching The Coen Brothers and other masters of character-based intrigue.

I'm divided about this movie, which is reflected in my rating. It has very intense moments, but it's not always able to sustain the tension. Sometimes the intensity borders on the annoying, sometimes it crumbles into boredom. None of the characters grew on me and in my opinion the ending is unsatisfying and badly executed. On the other hand I witnessed some really good performances from some of the actors. The overall atmosphere is dense and maintained during the movie. The storytelling avoids explanations and therefore is unnerving the spectator - in a positive way if you are in it for the chill factor. Don't expect this movie to be gory since it is not - blood is flowing, but in a mere matter-of- fact way. It's not trying to weave in vengeful ghosts, lost souls and other quasi religious ideas, which in my opinion get employed to perpetrate the idea of possible redemption. It tells the story of existence being hell with no possible exit since we are its prisoners and its creators. The movie stuck with me long after I watched it and it make me think - that's worth a solid 6 points.

Bit of a mix between Lost and The Shining, I really enjoyed this actually. In fact I love it when I find a really low scoring film on IMDb that I enjoy! Quite creepy, incredible sounds / score, especially the constant old style music that plays incessantly through the woods, driving the characters insane. Quite light in gore (no bad thing) but the few scenes there are are fairly shocking, especially the one seen from a distance, which was pretty chilling. If I had to choose between Saw, Scream (any) or this, I would choose this any day. Oh yeah I mentioned the sound already but its really good. Very atmospheric. Been googling for 'meaning behind the film' type stuff since the DVD stopped, and that in my opinion is what a decent horror should make you do.