Chased is a short film, er, I mean, feature film that should have been a short film that takes place in the woods of Washington. A sheriff (Ray Hopper) in the film's best performance, comes across some moonshiners in the shadow of Mount Rainier. After they inexplicably open fire he runs into the woods. That's it. That's the premise.
For the next hour or so it's a fight for survival for our Sheriff as he escapes the likes of moonshiners led by an incompetent man (Troy Lund) and Roadrunner (Juan Aleman). Roadrunner features a very racist role of a Native American guiding these moonshiners through the forest. He talks to nature, claps his hands and fish jump into his embrace. You know that kind of racism. Shame too because Juan Aleman actually brings some level of substance in acting ability to the role.
Even more questionable is the cinematography. For 80-90% of the film it is gorgeous with lush green scenery, dreamy waterfalls, warm interiors. Yet, the opening five minutes or so of film contains some jarring out of place cinematography. The typical out of place drone shot followed by an inexplicably bad scene of Mount Rainier washed out in midday light. There are a few stumbles later on in the film but overall the cinematography is one of the films strong points.
Many of the jokes fall flat. The ending is a head scratcher that feels, above anything, plain dumb. It runs too long to be a feature. What I see here is a shell of what could have been. The films best sequence is it's opening with Ciscoe Morris. But once that ends so does our hope. I'm sure this is one film you won't be saying "Ooh-La-La!" to, sadly.
