YELLOWBRICKROAD (2011) Review

Directed by: Jesse Holland, Andy Mitton

Starring: Michael Laurino, Cassidy Freeman, Alex Draper, Laura Heisler

I really wanted so much to like this movie because it had a great sounding story and the trailer looked really good. But unfortunately I found it to be a bit disappointing, and the movie has stayed with me but not for the right reasons.

In 1940 the entire population of Fryar, NH walked up a mountain path and never returned. Later their bodies were found mutilated or frozen, or not at all. There was one survivor. That description had me hooked instantly.

So now it's 70 years later and Teddy (Laurino), Erin (Freeman) and Walter (Draper) have got their hands on some declassified documents and decide to walk that same path and write a book about it. They gather up a team and head out to find the yellow brick road. The documents provide co-ordinates which first lead them to a movie theatre in the town of Fryar and although nobody in the town seems to want to have anything to do with them, they do find a young woman Liv (Heisler) who agrees to help them if they let her tag along. Seeing as they don't have much of a choice they agree, and soon find themselves at the trailhead.

It's probably good that I explain that this is a psychological horror and a fairly slow burning one at that. By around the 40 minute mark nothing much has happened besides a whole lot of character development. No doubt this will turn a lot of people off, but it pays off later when things start to get fucked up.

After walking for days, they find themselves unable to turn back because it seems they've ended up in some sort of Twilight Zone where the landscape is constantly changing and is playing havoc with their equipment. One moment their GPS reads that they are in Guam, then the next it tells them that they are in Italy. But once they all start to hear strange music coming from an unknown source, it begins to have an effect on them too.

I really enjoyed the first 80 or 90% of the film. The shots all looked great, the acting was superb and the character development was spot on. For a low budget film this was very well done, and one of the movie's strongest points was the audio. At one point there is a kind of assault on the senses scene which was one of my favorite parts, where there is a lot off sharp, jarring audio and the entire screen shakes and blurs while all of the characters struggle to stay on their own two feet. And the few deaths in the movie are really kind of grotesque but not in a gory way, in more of a psychological way.

But when it came to it's conclusion, I felt disappointed and almost robbed. The ending came out of nowhere and didn't explain anything at all. If you have any questions while watching YELLOWBRICKROAD you will no doubt still have the same questions when it is over. After the quality of the first three quarters of the film, the ending just felt kind of tacked on and pointless. I like it when movies leave a few questions unanswered, but when a movie leaves every question unanswered it kind of makes me wonder why I just sat through the entire experience.

Aside from the ending, this movie was great and is definitely worth watching if you're into this kind of slow burning psychological horror. Just don't expect to have any of your questions answered.