The Corridor

Well, definitely liked the way that this movie started out. It had a bit of mystery with a kid psyching out, and with the illusion of a possible crime being committed. But, the film had a lot of slow moments to it, especially right after the first five minutes. It dragged a bit to long at times, and it bored me quickly. Once all of the friends got together out in the country, I felt like the characters were disjointed and acted more like they just met, rather than supposedly being best friends since high school. Fast forward to about the last 30 minutes of the film. This is where it just seemed a bit odd to me, and I didn't particularly like that portion of it. I felt that I knew where they were trying to go with it, but to me, it didn't quite get there. I could definitely identify with the "crazy" character, but again, what was reality and what wasn't? I don't know if parts of the film was supposed to be some sort of reconciliation, or was it mere punishment. I didn't hate the movie, but I didn't quite like it either.

A small group of old school friends spend a boys' weekend at a remote forest cabin but when one of them, Tyler, scatters his dead mother's ashes a strange and magical corridor occurs in the snow. At first they see it as something incredible and weird but harmless. However things soon take a dark turn with them violently turning on one another with deadly results. This is a Canadian movie which sticks with metric measurements rather than trying to be "American", credit to them for that. It was shot in Nova Scotia during winter and the snow covered landscapes not only look good but also add to the sense of isolation and bleakness. The opening scene is quite horrific but then the rest of the first half is slow in terms of horror, though the characters were engaging enough to keep me interested. The vast majority of the horror comes in the second half. Gore highlights include a knife through a hand, a bloody garrotting, a scalping, a cruxifiction and several shootings, in the UK the violence got it a BBFC 18 certificate. The acting is OK but one of the guys has one of the funniest looking fake bold patches that I have ever seen, hilarious. The plot is quite original but sadly I failed to understand the confusing ending, if it wasn't for the funny bolding guy I'd have rated this a 4 but it gets an bonus point for the slaphead!

This movie is not for hard core horror or sci fi fans.

This is not your typical horror/sci-fi, as evidenced by some reviewers complaining that this movie was "boring". I have to disagree! It wasn't boring to me, but it isn't really a horror/sci fi either.

As for me, I appreciate and like a story that takes time to allow us to get to know the characters and has a slow burn while increasing tension.

The acting was very well done. And I grew to like and enjoy this group of friends. This story had a Stephan King, feel, to it for me. (His earlier works) I believe this was more of a drama with supernatural flavors, rather then any other category. (There was a bit of blood and violence at the end. Just not much)

The sci fi part of it was realistically based and was simply but effectively portrayed. It made me really think about possibilities!! It is a very well done movie, just put into wrong categories. Reviewers are expecting different genras. Thus, IMO, the lower ratings.

With-in 40 minutes of the movie, we have a solid foundation of the characters and an indication of what the main character is experiencing. And the pace sped up from there.

I thought it was a worthy watch, and recommend it to viewers who don't need a lot of action or gore to be interested and entertained.

The Corridor is an interesting film as horror films go. Even as a small film it is undeniable that it is a creature of ambitious efforts. Fortunately, these efforts pay off to the tune of delivering the audience a disturbing and rare portrayal of what happens when the extraordinary brings out the unusual and ultimately the worst in a group of friends whose circle is dangerously close to splintering from very real pressures of the earthly kind.

The Corridor follows 5 men whose boyhood friendships have persisted into adulthood and who individually are still struggling to find their places in the grown-up world. Their roles are further questioned when a member of the group, Tyler (Stephen Chambers), loses his mother under suspicious circumstances that leaves Chris (David Patrick Fleming) injured and questioning the sanity of his life-long friend.

In an effort to reconnect and help Tyler in the emotionally grueling process of laying his mother's ashes to rest, the 5 men decide to plan a boys' retreat to the cabin they spent so much time in in their youths. Tyler, grappling with his dementia (an aftershock of the ordeal with his mother) makes a discovery in the woods that will threaten the sanity and the lives of the rest of the group.

The real terror in The Corridor is more subversive than the obvious antagonist and the depth of the film's themes skirt on the edges of such cult favorites as Fight Club, Donnie Darko and some of Lynch's more surreal efforts. The threat isn't so much the enigmatic force in the woods as it is the enigma that is silently killing the group from the inside: Who are you when you lack purpose? How do we define ourselves in a world that denies us definition? It is the the corridor itself that empowers the group and seems only to magnify their own personal problems into full blown psychosis.

Although this might seem a little heady for the casual watcher, TC speaks to those of us who saw our role models revealed as villains, saw our fathers too humanized to remain out heroes and ultimately left us in a world without warrior poets looking forward to jobs we despise and positions in life that rarely treat us with any real moments of fulfillment. It is this alarmingly emotional character study of the group that elevates the Corridor to a film that actually surpasses its intent. For the horror fan The Corridor delivers some truly disturbing scenes of torture and madness driven degradation that sticks with you long after the credits begin to roll. It is in these moments that we see a group of actors that have struck their rhythm and deliver on all levels of the script, from the intense loss and longing to the stark insanity that characterizes the latter half of the picture. Director Evan Kelly has hit the ground running and I for one am eagerly looking forward to his next effort.

Highly recommended.

Otherwise you might start watching The Corridor. The front cover looks genuinely well-made, with a real creepy atmosphere. How wrong it can be. Despite the intriguing visual art, the film is pretty dull.

It plays out like Stephen King's 'Dreamcatcher,' only not as good (and Dreamcatcher was pretty maligned!). Four (or was if five?) friends go to a mountain cabin to bond (or something, it doesn't really matter). There, one of them starts finding a wibbly-wobbly area of the surrounding woods that looks nothing like a corridor, yet that's what they call it. This wibbly-wobbly bit gives them all nosebleeds. Carnage follows.

However, what little carnage there is (and one particularly impressive gore scene) comes woefully too late. The characters are simply too dull to care about, which is a shame, as the actors do a decent job of portraying them (if you can excuse the worst 'bald' man's head ever to hit the screen).

The acting is not the problem, it's just the flow. The first two thirds are basically the guys sitting around discussing their problems. Most people will have already condemned the film before it kicks off. Then, when it finally gets going, you may enjoy the final third, but it's a hell of a long road to travel just for the pay-off.

If you liked Dreamcatcher, stick to it. If you didn't, you probably won't like this either!