The Corridor

Almost didn't see this one because of the horrible reviews I kept seeing. After watching I realized that I was entertained. The nay-sayers on this one either don't like horror, or don't like sci-fi. If your one who obsessively scans for plot holes, and constantly pointing out the this would never happen in real life, etc, etc, you probably shouldn't watch this movie. In fact you probably shouldn't watch most movies because none of them will ever stand up to your standards as movie are in fact not real life at all. Final thoughts: if you're into tripped out sci fi horror you might like this movie.

Lovely yours, Simeon

First off, once I realized the opening music was by the Great Lake Swimmers, I realized I was watching a Canadian flick and very keen. Overall I was not disappointed. Acting was fair to good for the most part. The story itself was somewhat unique and each character had sufficient personal baggage to keep things interesting.

Here are my pros/cons

Pros: not your typical story, Setting was excellent (nothing like a real snowy landscape to add an air of realism), Dialogue for the most part was well written, nice little scare scene when watching the video tape, Some not anticipated brutality

Cons; confusing ending, possibly meant to be that way, The jock's balding scalp. Come on, this was ridiculous. When we first see him about to come out of his house I actually truly thought he was wearing a cheap Halloween fake bald head. I thought maybe it was a joke, but evidently not. It is hands down the worst make up blunder I've seen, quite obvious this guy had a full head of hair.

So, playing off the Great Lake Swimmers soundtrack against the worst fake bald head ever, I give this movie a 5.

A small group of old school friends spend a boys' weekend at a remote forest cabin but when one of them, Tyler, scatters his dead mother's ashes a strange and magical corridor occurs in the snow. At first they see it as something incredible and weird but harmless. However things soon take a dark turn with them violently turning on one another with deadly results. This is a Canadian movie which sticks with metric measurements rather than trying to be "American", credit to them for that. It was shot in Nova Scotia during winter and the snow covered landscapes not only look good but also add to the sense of isolation and bleakness. The opening scene is quite horrific but then the rest of the first half is slow in terms of horror, though the characters were engaging enough to keep me interested. The vast majority of the horror comes in the second half. Gore highlights include a knife through a hand, a bloody garrotting, a scalping, a cruxifiction and several shootings, in the UK the violence got it a BBFC 18 certificate. The acting is OK but one of the guys has one of the funniest looking fake bold patches that I have ever seen, hilarious. The plot is quite original but sadly I failed to understand the confusing ending, if it wasn't for the funny bolding guy I'd have rated this a 4 but it gets an bonus point for the slaphead!

The Corridor is an interesting film as horror films go. Even as a small film it is undeniable that it is a creature of ambitious efforts. Fortunately, these efforts pay off to the tune of delivering the audience a disturbing and rare portrayal of what happens when the extraordinary brings out the unusual and ultimately the worst in a group of friends whose circle is dangerously close to splintering from very real pressures of the earthly kind.

The Corridor follows 5 men whose boyhood friendships have persisted into adulthood and who individually are still struggling to find their places in the grown-up world. Their roles are further questioned when a member of the group, Tyler (Stephen Chambers), loses his mother under suspicious circumstances that leaves Chris (David Patrick Fleming) injured and questioning the sanity of his life-long friend.

In an effort to reconnect and help Tyler in the emotionally grueling process of laying his mother's ashes to rest, the 5 men decide to plan a boys' retreat to the cabin they spent so much time in in their youths. Tyler, grappling with his dementia (an aftershock of the ordeal with his mother) makes a discovery in the woods that will threaten the sanity and the lives of the rest of the group.

The real terror in The Corridor is more subversive than the obvious antagonist and the depth of the film's themes skirt on the edges of such cult favorites as Fight Club, Donnie Darko and some of Lynch's more surreal efforts. The threat isn't so much the enigmatic force in the woods as it is the enigma that is silently killing the group from the inside: Who are you when you lack purpose? How do we define ourselves in a world that denies us definition? It is the the corridor itself that empowers the group and seems only to magnify their own personal problems into full blown psychosis.

Although this might seem a little heady for the casual watcher, TC speaks to those of us who saw our role models revealed as villains, saw our fathers too humanized to remain out heroes and ultimately left us in a world without warrior poets looking forward to jobs we despise and positions in life that rarely treat us with any real moments of fulfillment. It is this alarmingly emotional character study of the group that elevates the Corridor to a film that actually surpasses its intent. For the horror fan The Corridor delivers some truly disturbing scenes of torture and madness driven degradation that sticks with you long after the credits begin to roll. It is in these moments that we see a group of actors that have struck their rhythm and deliver on all levels of the script, from the intense loss and longing to the stark insanity that characterizes the latter half of the picture. Director Evan Kelly has hit the ground running and I for one am eagerly looking forward to his next effort.

Highly recommended.

This movie is more of an acquired taste, than anything else. You'll either love it for its refreshing take on this genre or hate it for making you feel left out.

The other reviews pretty much covered everything, so I'll make this short and simple: The story requires your undivided attention. If you miss a second of it, you may not "get" what it's all about.

The actors are actually very good. Surprised me, really, in their intensity. Their emotions were almost palpable.

My only "complaint" is that the "entity" itself had too little a role, and its appearance too subtle for cinematic effect.

Nevertheless, it's a movie I would recommend.