Devil's Trail

Nothing happens in this movie. Nothing. Some witches, and that plotline went nowhere. A red-eyed beast, whose eyes are all you ever see, and two "survival" guys who fight the entire time. Things change up in the final five minutes of this monstrosity. Seriously. I think the movie was written around those final five minutes. Not worth your time. It certainly wasn't worth mine.

The entire time I was watching this found footage-style film I was struck by it being pretty much like The Blair Witch Project, but better in many respects. For example, you shouldn't get motion sickness from watching this. There are some big differences, though. At one point the two hikers (played by the director and a regular in some of his films), making a documentary about wilderness survival for a TV series, stumble upon three witches (or modern practitioners of a Wicca-like religion) performing a ceremony in the woods. These woman are all regulars in the other films by this production company. And they are all skyclad. Some have said this is gratuitous, but with the premise of real life witches as a religious belief, it's actually pretty authentic. They all have different personalities and take a little time to develop them. Then, later, we see that this was not just a random encounter. With symbols found in the woods and mysterious unseen visitors, this is all tied in to what's going on. Whereas the ending of The Blair Witch project is its only slightly redeeming value, the ending of this movie unfortunately doesn't meet that standard, in my opinion. I can't really get more into it than that without giving spoilers, but let's just say that it was a missed opportunity. Still, I appreciate what they were trying to do with this film, and they didn't scam a bunch of impressionable kids into thinking it was real and screw the actors over, like those other guys did.

Pretty decent and captivating found footage movie about two men filming an episode for "survival in the wilderness" TV show, which was pretty much believable up until the ending. It's very, very similar to "Blair Witch" (even uses the same plot tropes and elements), but it's good enough not to be called a cheap rip-off. The chemistry between characters feels natural and the script is solid.

As for the ending...while the idea they used for the ending is interesting, the execution is extremely poor. So poor that if it wasn't there I'd rate the movie a solid 7/10, but it pretty much ruins the whole movie.

A couple of buddies go out to the woods in search of the Jersey Devil. Dallas (John Hambrick) and Hank (Henrique Couto), try pronouncing his name. I'd fail miserably. Anyway, they go out into the woods to shoot a reality show of their search for the Jersey Devil.

Early in their journey, the encounter three witches, one of which tells them to get out of the woods. They do not heed her warning they choose to continue with their journey.

We get the back-and-forth banter and teasing that guys do with their buddies. Insulting each other and jokes at one another's expense. Bets on who can find found first, etc. The film gives off that survival show type vibe. We have the guys talking to the cameras and showing us how to catch fish.

The guys do, unfortunately, find what they are looking for. They've got motion cameras set up at their camp that show us the viewer what is going on.

Not bad for what it is. A little slow moving.

Not exactly groundbreaking but certainly enjoyable - as long as you don't mind found-footage films.

This does well to build the growing sense of paranoia and doubt (which leads on to mistrust and accusations) between the two leads, while not forcing in too much shaky-camerawork.

Minor gripe: the glaring red eyes of the 'devil' are just too bright. Too clearly seen. What made Blair Witch so enjoyable for me was that you could never quite say categorically what the peculiar noises in the woods sounded like. Here the sounds emanating from the sinister entity dwelling in the woods sounds very much like the grumbling of a territorial lion and the eyes/lights are just too clear - and clearly not a crane.

Ive seek positive and negative reviews of the ending. For me it felt tagged on and rushed, so I was slightly puzzled at it, but overall a satisfying outing.

It's just a shame they didn't run into a drunk Glaswegian terrorising the Scottish Highlands during their hiking trip there - now THAT would be truly terrifying.