Desolation

This movie is good except for one major thing. Reasoning. There is none. There is just one small plot with no reason behind it. I am not going to spoil anything about this movie so I will say this, if you have time to kill this is not the worse movie to pick but it far from the best.

This definitely isn't the best film out there, but it wasn't terrible. It had some good tension and I got a good creepy vibe from the antagonist throughout the movie. There is really no explanation for him, but I didn't mind that. Who knows what kind of creepy people lurk in the woods in the middle of nowhere after all?

The acting is decent though the characters make some painfully questionable decisions. This is probably the most irritating part of the movie. I liked that it has a short running time so they don't keep drawing out the situation. This helps the movie.

It's not winning any awards, but it's definitely not the worst movie out there.

I guess when you are setting out to make a "dead camper" type horror movie you should really pay attention to the impact the killer or stalker will have on the overall affect. We find out in the first few minutes that this mute dude seems like he got lost in the woods coming home from a rock concert and is to shy to ask for help finding his buddies. Any horror movie creep or killer that you feel like you could just walk up to them at any time and say hey $#@ head take a hike, is not very intimidating. I think had they cast a better stalker this movie would have received much higher grades.

Nothing really new here except I don't think that I've ever watched a movie where the protagonists decide to go to sleep when they know they're being stalked through the woods as much as this group did...who would be able to sleep?!?!

The small cast did good with what they were given. The initial set-up was tense enough and the killer was somewhat interesting in a mysterious way when he was kept farther away from the group.

But as soon as the killer reached their campsite, the characters start doing dumb things and the killer wasn't so interesting anymore. I was surprised he was able to attack anyone in the dark woods considering he never took his sunglasses off! He had a very blank expression on his face throughout the movie and the most emotion that comes from him is when the kid breaks his sunglasses LOL!

This is a decent film. There's not a whole lot that's memorable about it, but it's not terrible by any means. There's a good chemistry between the two lead actresses and the actor who plays the son holds his own. There are a few moments of decent tension throughout, but nothing that really made me jump or put me on edge. Depending on who the viewing audience is, I think it could be rather effective.

I liked the fact it didn't follow all the standard tropes you might expect something like this to fall into. That was a pleasant surprise for me. The movie moves along at a good pace and the short runtime is actually to its benefit. I think any longer and there would have been too many 'hurry up and get moving' moments.

It seems this was done on a lower budget and there are times when it's obvious, but it doesn't affect the story so I can give it a pass when it comes to those moments. I'll warn you if you're a gore hound and looking for a lot of gore, this film has next to none. If you're looking for everything to be telegraphed and laid out for you, you may not enjoy it. There's a lot left up to the viewers to figure out and piece together. But, it's a horror/thriller and I personally don't really need everything explained, I can just go with it. I know that's not the case for everyone. So, be warned, if you're that type of viewer, you might want to skip it.