First, Kelly Reilly’s performance as the damsel in distress who shifts from victim waiting to be picked off to bad-ass motherfucker ready to fuck these vicious bastards up is believable.
Second, each member in the gang of punk kids has their own separate personality, which most screenwriters don’t bother with. And the leader of the gang is unusually cruel, even for movies like this.
And lastly, the film is actually saying something about the complicity of inaction.
The two most disturbing sequences in the film come when the leader of the gang makes everyone take the knife to one of the victims, though it’s clear most of them don’t want to.
It’s equally clear that those who want out could easily overpower those who want to keep going, but they don’t.
The second very chilling sequencing is the last when our heroine stumbles onto the parents of these kids.
Having said all of this and giving this film a great deal of credit, I’m not sure if I actually liked it or not. I am pretty sure I did not enjoy it.
However, it certainly stuck with me and giving me the satisfaction I wanted by seeing the bad guys get their comeuppance by meeting a grizzly and bloody certainly would have been gratifying, but it would have undermined the whole point of the film.
I do recommend it, though, but only for fans of either horror or art films.
There are elements of both Lord of the Flies and Wrong Turn (how’s that for a fucking mix?) here.
Just expect to be haunted for a day or so after watching it. Maybe have something like Superbad on deck to watch if you need to get the taste of this one out of your brain.
And, just in case you care, I'm listening to
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