Un pont vers l'enfer

"Bridge to Nowhere" starts out in typical fashion. Five teens head out of their city element for a backwoods quest to find the infamous "bridge to nowhere". What they find in addition to the bridge is Bruno Lawrence and his captive teenage "bride", Alison Rutledge. The first half of the movie is straightforward hormone driven drivel, including a skinny dipping and peeper scene. Once the teen leader is confronted by a now very angry hermit, the film kicks into high gear. Genuine excitement follows as the "invaders" are driven from the hermit's domain. The violence is sudden and unpredictable. If you like hunted in the woods movies, you will enjoy "Bridge to Nowhere" - MERK

Five teenagers head off into the forest on a weekend camping trip to see the "bridge to nowhere". Fighting starts within the group, but disagreements are forgotten when the hermit who lives across the bridge begins to hunt them down. The fight-for-survival plot is too familiar to make this truly riveting, but it's enjoyable nonetheless because of the excellent acting from all involved. Much to its credit this production resists the temptation of dramatic overacting, and the teenagers are thoroughly believable (although Leon is an annoying jerk that you start to hope gets killed fast). Hermit Mark and his companion Lise are more mysterious and erratic, and Lise's relationship with Mark is never really explained, which is somewhat disappointing but adds further interest. A bit of a nostalgia trip for me with the 80's clothing styles etc., and the NZ soundtrack (Annie Crummer, Car Crash Set etc) adds a nice local touch. A good rental choice for a rainy afternoon.

"Bridge to Nowhere" is a lame low-budget thriller about obnoxious, undifferentiated teens who go on a camping trip and run afoul of Bruno Lawrence as a violent, crazy hermit and the generic eighties teenage girl he inexplicably lives with, and seems to have a sexual relationship with. What is she doing there, and why does she dress, talk and act exactly like the campers, ie. like a generic '80s teen, not the hermit she's supposed to be?

The movie isn't scary or involving in the least, and the violence and special effects are pretty unconvincing. Sometimes it's even poorly edited, distracting you from what's going on, like a scene where you can hear gunshots, and the movie cuts back to the hermit, but he's not even aiming the gun, even though he's the one who is supposed to be shooting.

The hermit is played by the legendary Bruno Lawrence, a great New Zealand character actor, and he's the only good thing about this movie.

Set in New Zeland's wilderness "Bridge to Nowhere" takes place in and around an actual unfinished bridge which was abandoned in the mid-1920s. Five obnoxious and noisy teenagers head into the woods to cross the bridge and set the camping.Unfortunately local mountain dweller is not happy to see them.He decides to hunt down the kids like animals and the blood begins to flow."Bridge to Nowehere" is a tense survival horror with some exciting stalking scenes and a bit of nasty violence.The villain is an interesting character as is his mentally unstable girlfriend.If you are a fan of "Deliverance","Rituals" or "Just Before Dawn" check out this unjustifiably forgotten survival classic with beautiful and lush scenery of North New Zealand.9 out of 10.

This movie might catch your attention in the video store. Being a huge Bruno Lawrence fan, I liked it.

Five city kids cross the land of a hermit while on a hiking trip. They muck up his property and sense of tranquility. This irks him, and he turns out to be a very vicious and dangerous person, especially when angry. He then proceeds to follow their every move and make the remainder of their vacation a living nightmare. Sound familiar? It might remind you of other movies. A basic plot for a lot of films, but this one was fairly well done. Bruno makes a decent bad guy. The relationship between him and his "girlfriend" and their characterizations could have been done better, but that's overlookable. The main focus is on the story and chases.

The photography of the lovely New Zealand countryside in the film is a plus.

See this one if you have time to kill.

** 1/2 out of ****