Beacon Point

An eager group of misfits are led into the forest by a ranger previously convicted of manslaughter, and who has just had the misfortune of repeating the crime after a disagreement and shoving match with the head ranger. I'm not really sure what was going on, but it involves ancient evil. Can't really say much more about it here without containing spoilers. Couple of things of note, there (refreshingly) isn't much profanity, maybe none? And the violence isn't overly gory, except for a couple of scenes. Perhaps not the best movie for younger viewers. It's a bit plodding for a while, then it holds your interest, then you kind of find out what's going on. Could've easily been a 7 or 8. The girl was pretty good, and I liked Dan.

"This was once all Cherokee land. It was considered sacred ground, and trespassers would be killed on sight."

At the very least, you can say that "Beacon point" is a weird and rather strange movie. After seeing it you're wondering what in God's name it was about anyway. I started watching it without any clue what it would be about. And by the time the end credits rolled over the screen, I still didn't have a clue. In the first 15 minutes there are also some events which in hindsight had nothing to do with the whole story. It starts with a Predator-like scene where two hunters, who look like they have just returned from a Vietnam tour, are chased by something unknown in the forest. Then we see Drake (John Briddell) having an argument with his boss about his criminal past. The result is not too beneficial for Drake. Let's say a fallen antler with sharp ends plays a main role.

Then there are some facts that aren't plausible and realistic enough too me. First of all the volunteers who want to follow the Appalachian Trail aren't asking any questions about the person Drake. I suppose they've paid a lot of money for this trip. And yet, nobody is wondering if Drake is the official guide and if he's experienced enough. The participants meekly submit their participation papers and follow the completely unknown and not officially introduced trail master.

Even when they find a corpse after a bit of walking, Drake tells them it's just an unfortunate incident and that it's probably the result of a hungry bear the victim ran into while hiking through the forest. So, no problem. And they continue their trip in the assumption that someone else will solve the problem I guess. I know for certain I would turn around, because I wouldn't want to encounter that same hungry bear somewhere.

It's also bizarre that in the rest of the film these events aren't mentioned again. As if it never happened. It seems like they've used these events to get a standard playtime for the movie. It seems like random events which have nothing to do with the story line. After these unusual occurrences, we get a lot of walking and puffing. The same as in "A walk in the woods" and "Wild".

The participants are a colorful group consisting of Brian (Jason Burkey) and Cheese (RJ Shearer), two brothers who recently discovered they were brothers. Then there is Dan (Eric Goins), a jolly fat guy who left Silicon Valley behind for a while. And Zoe is an ex-real estate broker who concluded that she didn't want to end up like her father and, as a tribute, wants to scatter her dad's ashes in the Appalachians. Before they realize it, they are lost and discover an ancient Indian cemetery and later on a bizarre totem. And that's when strange things start to happen at night and the group of hikers are the victims of nightmares and illnesses

Not only the course of the story and the cause of all this misery were strange. The most strange thing is that despite the unoriginal, bad dialogues, the ridiculous decisions and the total lack of explanation, I was fascinated by it in a certain way. There's a somewhat tense atmosphere. There are beautiful shots to admire made by a drone I guess. And the acting wasn't so bad after all (just ignore the dialogues). It's only the lack of knowing what happened actually that became an annoyance. Was it the trespassing of an old Indian cemetery that released an ancient curse? Or was it aliens that caused it all? Or did they eat some wrong mushrooms and became delirious? And why didn't they all get sick ? Believe me. You won't get an answer in the end. And the last images causes even more confusion and are a source of new speculations.

If you expected a type of "X-files" after seeing the cover, you'll be deeply disappointed. And you can hardly call it horror. There's not one creepy or scary scene in it. The only effect this film had on me was that I'm sure I'll once visit those Appalachian forests. And I'm certain there won't be any martians to haunt me at night.

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A group of hikers follow a guide onto a mountain of awaiting horrors. Beacon Point is a movie that leads you into unspeakable confusion, terror and anger before gently depositing you into a bed of utter nothingness.

Hikers, set on finding the perfect view, follow a guide with a precarious secret. Even when lead past the scene of a what is determined to be an animal attack, they venture on to engage with an unknown entity. And what it wants, no human surrenders freely.

Beacon Point started off with my interest peaked. I saw what I'd hoped to be full of potential, but it quickly fizzled out, leaving me flustered. I won't provide any spoilers, because you know I just don't do those, but I can say, when I discovered what was really happening, I wanted to end the movie then and there. It's always the same thing- especially when it comes to movies located in high mountain ranges or forests.

The characters were slightly likable and the few jabs & laughs were fun. The side character, Zoe, carried purpose but her actions didn't speak for her previously shown situation, or her personality. Drake was the so-called male villain, but I liked him. He was stable in his instability and his acting was on point! The others were minor and insignificant, but they played their roles, allowing the movie to work. Sadly, none of the aforementioned changes the fact that at the ending left me feeling a bit cheated.

I won't say it was awful, but it wasn't good either. I still rate it higher than most movies of this particular theme. Beacon Pointed released June 10, 2016 and is available on YouTube, iTunes, Amazon and more.

So go listen to everything you can by David Paulides.

This isn't a "bad" film but it just lacks a compelling plot to keep you engaged and walking. It starts out fine as we meet the characters and they start the hike, but I think there really isn't enough conflict between them to keep it interesting. Drake, the hike leader, is a little too underwritten of the characters. He has a secret--which we know--but he acts so nasty to everyone (instead of being a nice guy) that it sort of undermines the surprise of who he is.

The acting across the board is fine, but I sense there was a lot of padding. At the 30 min mark, when we should be deep into the plot, it's still sort of aimless. And since not much of interest is going on, I was sort of bored. Kept watching, but even when the alien aspect was introduced, it still didn't goose the plot. Everything just settled back into the plodding narrative.

It's then I checked and saw I was 55 mins into it with only about 25 mins left! So yes, it's a short film, but if they can't keep me watching an hour into it, something is missing--my interest. So I stopped and looked for something else to watch.