Munger Road

On the eve of the annual Scarecrow Festival, two St. Charles police officers (Randall Batinkoff and Bruce Davison) search for a return killer the same night four teenagers go missing on Munger Road.

Let me sum up everything good about this film in two words: Bruce Davison. The man is a legend, from "Willard" on down. That he has had to appear in low budget horror films to pay the rent (or at least to keep building a resume) is a sad, sad thing. (And not unique to Bruce, of course -- Robert Englund, Jeffrey Combs, and everyone else is doing it...)

The part with the kids? Who cares? A bunch of dumb kids, no better than you will find in every other horror film. But the cops, they actually had a bit of an interesting plot going on...

Living in Illinois, I know where "Munger Road" is located but had never heard of its checkered backstory and the rumors surrounding it. Apparently, the story is that paranormal entities haunt a specific location where a Canadian Railway crosses a road called "Munger Road" in a rural area of Bartlett. While this urban legend is relatively small, it still should have a film made in its honor, shouldn't it? St. Charles native Nicholas Smith has written and directed an interesting but relatively bland entry into the paranormal genre of film, yet has accumulated an impressive amount of publicity for the project and has garnered a solid amount of revenue as well.

Munger Road focuses on two narratives (one that could exist on its own, the other one would be difficult to sustain a short film) jammed together. One story follows two local cops, investigating the area after a murderer has escaped from a prison bus and is running ramped through the town. The other centers around four thrill-seeking teenagers, two men, two women, all faceless, as they venture out to the spot I previously mentioned to crack the rumors about Munger Road.

So they do, and once they stop on the railroad tracks, they apply baby-powder to the bumper, shut the car's lights off, and wait as they expect a ghost to push them off the tracks into safety. After that event, once they have gotten video evidence that something did in fact push their car, they realize that their cell phones are now frozen, their car stalls, starts, then stalls for good, and they are stranded in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night. Now the fun begins.

One major problem with the picture is the lighting or lack thereof. The worst thing, I believe, that could happen with a horror movie, next to animal abuse, or a low amount of source lighting, rendering the picture as black, indistinct, and frustratingly unclear. I was reminded of the pitch dark sequences in Albino Farm, which were no help to the film's clunky narrative. Here, the scenes do not happen a lot, but they often exist when the suspense is increasing. Don't even get me started on the lack of character development either. We have dopey guy, nicer guy, skanky girl, nicer girl, and two straight-laced cops. Next.

I have certain admiration for the film in regards that Smith seems like a capable directer, the writing isn't horrendously incompetent, and some of the atmosphere (when we can see it) is chilling and effective. However, Munger Road, unfortunately, could be a sour movie-going experience thanks to three words that conclude the film. I'll leave you with that...

Starring: Bruce Davison, Randall Batinkoff, Trevor Morgan, Brooke Peoples, Hallock Beals, Lauren Storm, and Art Fox. Directed by: Nicholas Smith.

I understand that a good horror movie often leaves one with questions at the end, but this movie felt incomplete. The ending is abrupt and without direction, leaving so many unanswered questions that the audience just sat there and asked, "Is that it?". Setting up for a sequel is understandable but I think the viewer needs more of a hook...(Although I'll probably go see Munger 2.) The story, though unoriginal, does have a fair amount of suspense. There are several scenes that give a good jolt but nothing ever gets resolved. I can't recommend this film. As a resident of St Charles now and a person that drives past that location every day, I wanted to love this movie. There were so many directions this could have gone and it chose none. That's a shame.

"Munger Road" doesn't break much new ground, but it covers the old ground nicely. Two St. Charles students (Trevor Morgan and Hallock Beals) get a video camera so they can go out with their dates (Brooke Peoples and Lauren Storm), to the tracks on Munger Road to check for supernatural activity. The car engine mysteriously dies and the four kids are marooned in the middle of nowhere.

From John Carpenter's "Halloween," director/writer Nick Smith appropriates the escaped serial killer plot, plus pays homage to the opening-scene tracking shot by having a cop investigate a dark house through a point-of-view camera.

Smith also lifts the swinging ceiling lamp effect from Hitchcock's "Psycho" and briefly the making-a-documentary premise from "The Blair Witch Project" which it stole from "Cannibal Holocaust."

So, don't go to see "Munger Road" for originality.

Go to witness how Smith and his young conspirators (including Polish composer Wojciech Golczewski with his edgy, alarming score) transform the sleepy little community of St. Charles into the scariest Illinois town since Michael Myers roamed fictional Haddonfield.

There are a LOT of stories, films, and documentaries about Munger Road. Watch something else. This movie has no ending. It was good until then. The missing ending did nothing but anger us and made us hate the entire movie. Here's a tip. People rarely like to wait a week to see the conclusion of a TV series "to be continued". I sure as hell don't want it in a movie. I don't care if I've spoiled it for those who haven't seen it. I hope they don't watch it specifically because this movie HAS NO ENDING. Screw that. I won't be watching a "sequel" either because now I don't care one fig what happened to any of those people. It had good acting. It was directed well. Proved to be scary at times. But will I watch it again or watch a sequel? NOT A CHANCE. Will I recommend it to others? NO WAY! I gave it one star because I had to give it a star. DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE unless you LIKE being left hanging without resolution.