The Retreat

We thought this movie was pretty good. Two cool dude buddies having a "bachelor party" 3-day hike in the snowy Anirondacks, with interference from a ghastly creature. If you watch it, you need to pay attention because of all the flash backs. We gave it only 6 stars because we were totally engaged until the final scene which was incredibly disappointing. We enjoyed the acting and the story a lot.

It's not bad, however, the story jumps around way too much, almost making it tough to know what's going on. I'd say this is more of a thriller and not horror. The cinematography is great, but it's unfortunate that they used some kind of orange and teal filter. Everyone's skin appears orange.

I enjoyed this movie, but it's because I already knew quite a bit about the wendigo urban legend and knew what to expect. If you have no idea about the legend then I'm afraid you'll probably find this to be a confusing mess, or at the worst, boring. I guess people might go into this thinking it's a monster movie but it's actually a slow psychological horror with themes of madness. It works as a good homage to the wendigo legend but I have rated down because the legend isn't well enough explained for newcomers. I thought it was a pretty neat serious psychological horror though.

Looks great, sounds great. Just when you think it's going nowhere - Boom! Plot twist after plot twist after plot twist pull you right back in!

Admittedly, it gets a bit confusing in the final act, as the movie jumps back and forth between multiple timelines.

One massive flaw- the 'Wendigo(s)' look ridiculous and basically move around like 'men in costumes'. Other than that, a solid movie!

Well, "The Retreat" wasn't really as good of a horror movie as I had expected. Sure, the movie was watchable and entertaining enough for what it turned out to be, but it just wasn't a particularly memorable or outstanding addition to the horror genre.

"The Retreat" had some interesting enough aspects to it, such as the wendigo and the creatures that scuttled about with it, and the trip into the forest (around which the movie's plot evolved), and the happenings in the forest. However, the movie just spiraled downwards and out of control as the storyline went from being interesting to downright confusing and totally dropping the ball as to what was going on. That part is where writer and director Bruce Wemple totally lost me.

As for the acting in "The Retreat", well it was heavily reliant on the performance of mostly two actors, that being Grant Schumacher and Dylan Grunn. I will say that they managed to carry themselves well enough, despite the fact of not having a properly constructed storyline to work with.

"The Retreat" is labeled as a horror movie. A very weak horror movie, mind you, because there literally was nothing scary about the movie. I think the label psychological thriller mystery might actually do the movie more justice.

Ultimately, while I did manage to sit through the entire course of the movie, I can honestly say that "The Retreat" is not a movie that had me particularly entertained or thriller. Nor is it a movie that I will watch a second time.

My rating of "The Retreat" settles on a four out of ten stars.