YellowBrickRoad (2010)

(In French, On Cable TV, December 2021) There is an interesting grab-bag of elements at play in YellowBrickRoad — a Pied Pier legend update, some Wizard of Oz mythology, and the relatively unusual idea of a forest path out of time leading hikers to insanity and death. There’s clearly something to do with that idea, especially when it gets away from horror’s dark rooms into a daytime prison without borders. The additional historical material does provide a welcome bit of business surrounding the low-budget execution of the premise, which maximizes a low budget through outdoors photography. Alas, writer-directors Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton can’t manage to make good use of those elements. The script barely touches upon its own ideas, while the cinematography is surprisingly ugly and the actors don’t do much to provide additional attachment where the script remains vague. More frustratingly, YellowBrickRoad doesn’t lead anywhere (fine for the story, not-so-fine for the audience): the characters go crazy and die in various ways, but the central mystery remains largely opaque, and it’s not as if we care about the characters, what happens to them, or even getting answers. YellowBrickRoad is filled with unrealized potential but disappointing execution: I’m sure there’s a much better movie to be made out of the basic building blocks of the film, but this isn’t it.