The Ridge

A group of friends arrive at a secluded mansion in the middle of the woods in order to unwind for the weekend. But when they arrive, they find the place trashed. After cleaning up, they settle down & tell stories about the Ridge Runner – a crazed survivalist who slaughtered his family before disappearing in the area some years ago. At first, the night goes along nicely but when they find the corpse of the house's caretaker in the pool, the Ridge Runner appears & begins slaughtering his way through the group.

The Ridge is an ultra-low budget slasher film conceived as a copy of the Friday the 13th series, except without any hockey-masked killers roaming about, instead having a mysterious survivalist assaulting the cast.

For the first 45 or so minutes, nothing happens. Writer-director Brett Haley, who plays the group's most anally-retentive member, writes poor dialogue & has no idea on how to carry the film along without resorting to dull writing. The dialogue that appears in the film seems forced & the background story about the Ridge Runner that they mention is not very interesting.

But once the corpse in the pool is found, the film switches gears. Haley might not know how to write good dialogue, but he knows a thing or two about staging brute force shocks. Haley milks the surroundings for all the suspense that he can get – this film has more jumps in its final half-hour than the entirety of most of the Friday the 13th sequels. Not just that, but Haley also turns expectation on its head by featuring a rather unconventional final survivor. Despite its low budget The Ridge is a much more authentic slasher film experience than most of the Friday the 13th sequels.

Look, they, production crew and cast, had a crack. Well, Brett Hayley had a crack given that he wrote, directed and played one of the leads. It's one of those, a group of friends spend a weekend in a remote borrowed holiday house scenarios. Oh, and there is a creepy story accompanying the house.

When I read this plot summary I was promptly consumed with anticipation having absolutely no idea where the film would take me! Sarcasm is never helpful and those involved deserve to at least have the dignity of their intent respected. Sorry.

The Lauren Power character, Anna, having diabetes was an odd twist though I suppose it did make her more vulnerable increasing audience empathy. Important given that there is little empathy for the remainder of the cast.

An aside and a convention of the genre but I am always left wondering how it is that a group of great strapping lads are not able to overcome a solitary psychopath. Especially, as in this instance, the psychopath's weapon of choice is a largish kitchen knife and the lads have all sorts of doings for deadly deeds at their disposal.

Austin Donahue is credited with all original music so I suppose he is responsible for the compulsive and compelling percussion work. It is something unique in a film that is otherwise indistinguishable from so many low / no budget slashers.

The film was an average watch but the big test is, was it good enough to devote valuable space too on shelves already over crowded with worthier fare and the answer is, sadly, no.

Aside from that major continuity error, this film was mediocre but in a good way sometimes.

We will start with some pros.

Not every scene was constantly dark and there were a few cool shots here and there (A pool, a small hill at the beginning, just little cool shots). The gore was very well done and looked very realistic. It had a nice mythology going (Staying true to it on the first kill made it very pleasant that the filmmakers paid attention to themselves).

Now the cons.

The awful acting from nearly everyone; only the females being decent at best. The dialog was painful to listen to and the 'character development' was cheesy and bland. The kills were uninspired and bland and they all meshed together in a very unsatisfactory way. The actions of the characters were horrendous and they really could not have done anything better to make themselves better targets.

Overall it was decent. I managed to jump twice, which I can usually anticipate quite well (Probably because I had earphones on, trying not to wake everyone up so it was a little awkward watching it on the television set with headphones).

Overall I'd give The Ridge a 5/10. It's a forgettable flick that you can rent once and mildly enjoy by yourself or bring a bunch of friends serve them some 'beverages' and you'll have a blast making fun of it.

Entertainment is entertainment either way it's entertaining. I'm Not good with profound statements so forgive me.

The film is a contemporary horror that draws from the urban legend of The Ridge Runner, a brutal killer out to slaughter anyone who settles on his land. "The Ridge" begins slow and clunky but within the first fifteen minutes the atmosphere becomes a nonstop slaughter fest. Okay maybe a bit more than fifteen minutes but the point is what starts as a questionable flick turns into a real chiller.

The story opens with the cliché set-up of friends on a getaway. Only within the first few moments of arriving to the house, nestled in the woods, things get eerie. The dialog is flimsy, random, and doesn't really seem to lead into the story, at least not until the standard "do you know a scary story" moment. That is when we are introduced to the urban legend of the brutal ridge runner. There are moments when the story, even the telling of the legend, feels contrived, but for the most part it is a plausible premise. It is obvious though that most of the writing focused on action and kills based on the weak dialog. So at first the film starts off shaky. But when the sh*t hits the fan, the film almost transforms into something totally new.

The special effects are pretty tight. The attention to presenting killer scenes and action sequences is obvious in "The Ridge". The house plays a big role in the film with so many rooms, levels and areas for the killer to pop out from, The night shooting and sound effects help create a traditional horror look, that will be recognizable to horror fans. From the moment the first body is found, explaining the eerie beginning to the film, "The Ridge" really goes full throttle giving total slasher entertainment. The soundtrack at times feels hokey-hallmark-y, but I can over look the style of music used to create an emotional continuity to the story.

Overall "The Ridge" turns into a pretty decent indie slasher film. The fact that the horror just happens, with no justification other than a faceless killer mad about loosing his land, only adds to the nightmare. There is some pretty stellar directional choices and cinematography in "The Ridge". Honestly if the dialog and first part of the film would have had the strength that pops up in the second and third act then this would have been a ten for me.

Poorly acted, written and directed. No sexual chemistry between the characters. No attempt at any racial inclusion. Boring and awful in every level.