Le Chemin Sans Retour

The plot: In the 1940s, an entire town inexplicably follows a path into the wilds of New Hampshire, where they find death and madness. Later, a modern day team of researchers seek to discover what really happened.

YellowBrickRoad is one of the best "flawed but interesting" horror movies I've seen in a while. It's frustrating to many viewers, because it seemingly promises one set of genre conventions (such as a slasher or scifi thriller), yet delivers something radically different (more akin to the Blair Witch Project, without the "found footage" gimmick). YBR is very subtle -- perhaps too subtle. Many questions are never explicitly answered, because the writers apparently find the questions irrelevant or unimportant. Instead, it focuses on subtle themes, which hint at vague answers. If this sounds frustrating, then I'd avoid YBR. It might take multiple viewings to make much sense of this movie.

YBR is a pastiche of rather obvious influences, chiefly the Blair Witch Project and 60s/70s horror. It will also probably appeal to fans of Lovecraft, given the themes of unknowable evil, the frailty of sanity and civilization, and the danger of obsessively searching for answers to unanswerable questions. Fans of modern horror franchises, such as Saw or Hostel, will probably be bored.

For the first 70 minutes of this film, I thought I had found my new favourite horror movie. There are sequences here that will take your breath away - IF you are a fan of true psychological horror and not the mainstream CGI crap that hits the multiplexes. The concept is fascinating, and the set-up is superb. The sound design of this film is flawless, and has one of the best uses of music I have ever experienced. The music... it's skin-crawling, and is almost a character in the movie. Likewise, the violence and gore. Very underplayed, timed well and not gratuitous. But when it hits, it's incredibly effective.

But then something goes awry. The plot becomes muddled and almost self-important, the actions of the characters don't really add up... it almost feels like a different film than the intense, slow-burn of the first two acts. It reminded me of 'Insidious' in this regard; incredibly good for the first two thirds then becomes too hokey in its final reel.

It's a shame, because this had the potential to be a genre classic. As it is, the unconvincing third act makes this an effective but ultimately unsatisfying film.

Bit of a mix between Lost and The Shining, I really enjoyed this actually. In fact I love it when I find a really low scoring film on IMDb that I enjoy! Quite creepy, incredible sounds / score, especially the constant old style music that plays incessantly through the woods, driving the characters insane.

Quite light in gore (no bad thing) but the few scenes there are are fairly shocking, especially the one seen from a distance, which was pretty chilling.

If I had to choose between Saw, Scream (any) or this, I would choose this any day.

Oh yeah I mentioned the sound already but its really good. Very atmospheric.

Been googling for 'meaning behind the film' type stuff since the DVD stopped, and that in my opinion is what a decent horror should make you do.

I found YellowBrickRoad to be deeply unsettling, like a nightmare that tugged at something deep inside me. This is definitely a slow, mostly subtle horror film, and not for everyone, but I found it better than most that I've seen. This was a surreal, disturbing experience that took a group of ordinary people in a pretty ordinary setting and situation, and gradually morphed it into an anxious world without reliable reference frame in which we're not sure what is real. If I like a movie, and I did like this one, I tend to strongly empathize with the characters and their situation, and I found myself feeling the anxiety of questioning reality and my own grasp of it. Shortly after watching the film I went to sleep and proceeded to have what seemed like hours of dream obviously derived from the movie.

Comparable films are "The Blair Witch Project" (the original one--for obvious reasons when you see this one) and "Session 9" for the slow, character-driven build and growing sense of dread.

Yes, there was one plot detail which strained credibility, was a little distracting, and I think could've been easily avoided, but I was willing to overlook that given that otherwise the overall experience worked for me. Regarding the ending, I know many posting here found it unsatisfying. I feel strongly about endings and usually like them to be clear and unambiguous, and I liked the ending of this film. Having said that, I understand why some would not like the ending, but it made sense to me and sealed the horror of the story.

In 1940, the residents of a sleepy New England town walked along a trail called Yellowbrick Road, leaving behind their possessions. Some were found frozen, others mysteriously and horribly mutilated. There was one survivor. 70 Years later and the documents surrounding the case have been declassified. Armed with the case files, a crew of nine civilians resolve to set out along the trail, to find out what happened to the earlier inhabitants once and for all...

YellowBrickRoad has a GREAT concept and tries to put an innovative spin on the lost in the forest "subgenre". (if such a thing exists). Part mockumentary, part straight horror, it's certainly ambitious.

However, I gotta say... I just plain hated this film. I thought the execution sucked, and found it nonsensical, boring, unscary, frustrating and very very annoying. It has an "assault on the senses" segment, as noted by another reviewer on this page, that literally had me gritting my teeth, and I personally wondered if they put it in to prevent me falling asleep from boredom, as it's a very jarring sequence. It also has an unintentionally hilarious reaction from the performers, who act like the crew of the original Star Trek when hit by a Klingon torpedo or something. The conclusion is jaw droppingly ludicrous, weak and feels tacked on for the sake of it. It would be right at home on a Scary Door episode from Futurama, it's that ridiculous and silly.

So, yeah... I really disliked it and found it an incoherent mess and a very disappointing film.

BUT... I'm in the severe minority here, apparently. I caught this at Dead By Dawn 2011 and it went down quite well with the audience, with most seeming to love it, or at least like it, including the party I went with. (I was the one dissenter in our group) So, based on the audience reaction, I'm gonna say that this is very much a personal opinion here. It's basically kinda similar to Session 9, (in terms of atmosphere) only in a forest, and I'm one of the apparently few horror fans who was totally non-plussed by Session 9, while most like that one also, so anyone who likes Session 9, should like this.

3/10 from me. It just thoroughly annoyed and bored me from start to finish. That having said, based on audience reaction at Dead By Dawn, I'm actually gonna recommend fans to check it out, as it'll probably go down quite well with you. Just wasn't my cuppa tea at all though.