Devil's Trail

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.

Bad, bad, BAD! Look, I don't need blood, and gore, I also don't mind slow horror. However, this film is beyond bad. I'll tell you now, absolutely NOTHING happens. Two guys get semi lost in the woods, the acting is pretty low quality. Oh, and the monster(s)? Yeah, ALL you see is red eyes. That's it. Yep, red eyes once or twice...and two guys lost in the woods. The acting gets noticbly bad once they start to argue and fight.

I'm the type that sees a 4/10 on IMDb it it's horror and think typically isn't bad at all...I think maybe of the 4-5 star films on IMDb should be like 6/7+! This however?? 4.1!? I would give it a -1 if I could. So why did I give it a 2? Well, the camera/film/budget look was DECENT quality...better than some low budget. That is the ONLY positive thing about this film. Please don't waste your time!

DEVIL's TRAIL tackles the lore of the Jersey Devil, a cryptid in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey, said to be a biped with hooves and wings and a mythology going back to the 1700s. Two survival show streamers go there to search for it within the framework of a 21-day survival challenge. Early on, they encounter a coven of witches and from then on their endeavor seems to be jinxed.

Other than the cryptid in question, this movie offers little that hasn't been in done countless other found footage movies before.

On the positive side, the Dallas character did do a fairly good job of portraying an awkward introvert who almost cracks under pressure. Also, there was some interesting information about outdoor survival (for example, prior to this movie, I had never heard of a Steripen), even though these two seem to still have done many survivalist faux pas that even I can recognize e.g. Not bringing gloves, maps or lighters.

The ending, which presents two twists back-to-back, is especially poorly executed. The first twist did not give enough information about exactly what was fake and what was real, and the second twist shows a horror scene exactly in the same style of the horror scene before the first twist. This seems like an amateur error in film-making: if you want to convince the audience that things are different now, show them differently!

So, I learned about the Jersey Devil and some basic aspects of survivalism (and that is why I did not rate the film lower), but everything else about this film is forgettable.