YELLOWBRICKROAD: The Hughes Verdict- A Short Review

YellowBrickRoad (2010)
Directed by: Andy Mitton, Jesse Holland
Written by: Andy Mitton, Jesse Holland
Starring: Anessa Ramsey, Cassidy Freeman, Clark Freeman

What’s it all about?

One Morning in New England, 1940, the entire population of Friar New Hampshire – 572 people – walked together up a winding mountain trail and into the wilderness. They left behind their clothes, their money, all of their essentials. Even their dogs were abandoned, tied to posts and left to starve. No One knows why. A search party dispatched by the U.S. Army eventually discovered the remains of nearly 300 of Friar’s evacuees. Many had frozen to death. Others were cruelly and mysteriously slaughtered. The bodies of the remaining citizens are still unaccounted for. Over the years, a quiet cover-up operation managed to weave the story of Friar into the stuff of legends and backwoods fairy tales. The town has slowly repopulated, but the vast wilderness is mostly untracked. Now a group of researchers desperate to discover the truth in what happened enter the backwoods to follow the yelowbrickroad but with this path the gang quickly realise that there is no place like home……

THE HUGHES VERDICT

Sometimes you just watch a film where you know everyone involved just tried to damn hard.

Looking at the title, many may believe that this is a somewhat horror sequel from the land of Oz, where Dorothy has now grown up, probably in a mental asylum after having a breakdown due to her memories of the Tin man, Scarecrow and the Lion. Having been convinced that what happened to her when she was over the rainbow was nothing but a dream, she has spent all her young life on drugs, trying to banish the memories of that green witch until of course one stormy night while in her room, she finds out that it was all real due to the head of the lion under her bed sheets and a message that the witch is back and its time for revenge!

Ok I have gone way off track here but the clever ploy by the makers of this horror is too use a phase so familiar with the classic family film. Follow the Yellowbrickroad is a kind of wicked idea to use in a horror but like the tagline of the cover says, “This Road has no FairyTale ending!”

Way back in 1940, in the entire townsfolk of Friar a huge number of five hundred and seventy-two men, women and children decided for no apparent reason to pack up their stuff and walk up a mountain trail in which they simply disappeared. A US Army led search team went to look for them and found half the people dead, most had been butchered beyond belief. The reason of what happened to this day remains unknown. Even the one survivor who survived the chaos went completely mad before he could explain what happened and soon the eerie story went into an urban legend, told to a generation to another and while the rumours spread, the trail which they followed became lost, no one ever followed the YellowBrickRoad again and it became one of the greatest ghost stories ever told.

Cut to the now and a bunch of historical researchers led by Teddy (Michael Laurino) are determined to find out the truth and where the original trail lays so they can follow it and document anything weird that may happen. Armed with cameras, the gang set off but soon they realise the danger they have put themselves, when music can be heard from within the deep of the woods, its the music that brings a descent of madness within the group, the members star to lose their minds, any hope of turning back are dashed because there is no escape and when frustration boils over to anger, blood is shed and here is where the real horror begins!

On the surface YellowBrickRoad is my cup of tea. A real old style horror where the plot is slow moving and mysterious, where the scares come with the tension and not with the need to throw buckets of blood at the screen. Everything about the film sounds class, a concept full of promise and intrigue, yes you may be looking at nothing but a Blair Witch clone, but at the end of the day the entire plot sparkles with potential. So why the negative vibe coming from my written words?

Simple really! The film is just too damn boring. You can marvel at the intent of character development and the deep thought of building up the scares, but when there are no scares of note then what can any horror fan do but just moan at what they are witnessing. The lack of urgency come the second half of the film is one of the main flaws of the film and one that you simply can not shake. Yes I understand the first hour in creating this ghost story and to be fair to the directing duo Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton they do create a wonderful back story, but when you have served us a slow burning start then you must deliver the chills for remaining film time and this is where the promising double act let themselves down.

As soon has the researchers hear this strange music then that should have been a cue for unspeakable horror but you just do not feel it. Not once watching did I get swept away by feeling of danger, the gang hear the music, some weird shit happens and the gang talk about it. The next night music plays again, the gang hear the music, some shit happens and the gang talk about it. Its a routine that follows all the way up to its finale which I will get to in a minute but lets just say, I was not happy at all with the way the film ended.

In a ironic way, YellowBrickRoad may have worked better if it was a “found footage!” kind of horror. By using the recent craze of “Camcorder Scares!”, the film may have had the much needed boast of urgency it required. I could not help but feel cold towards these people, a lack of a connection and to be truthful I did not really care what happened to them. By going down the route of say “Blair Witch!” then maybe being among them I would have felt the danger more because all I felt was being an outsider who just wanted the film to end.

How and why I stayed to the end is beyond me, but I did and then I wished I didn’t because it seems the writers had absolutely no idea how the story was going to end. The climax is laughable, a real damp squid that rips off much better films. It actually made me feel cheated because it left me feeling deeply unsatisfied. I mean here I was watching this widely acclaimed film which I really wanted to love and I was having great difficulty with and the only thing that kept me going was the fact that it could end in a real shock to the system. I have seen plenty of horrors that have been saved by a stunning climatic scene and I was deep in hope that this could be one of them so please forgive me by being mightily peed off by what is nothing more than a Sutter Cane rip off!

I really wanted to enjoy YellowBrickRoad its a film that is rich in atmosphere and Holland and Mitton show enough promise to suggest a future in the horror field, but despite some neat touches, the film fails in its horror elements. Its nice to hark back to the days of 70’s horror like they have here but you also need to strike a balance between slow build up and worthy scares and for that the film falls flat.

Its a case of good try lads but a bronze finish!

Rating: