The Lost Tribe (2009)

(In French, On Cable TV, September 2020) Nooo, Roel, you have let me down! The Lost Tribe landed on my DVR thanks to a single distinction; It’s directed by Roel Reiné, a Dutch filmmaker with a remarkable ability to make low-budget movies look ten times as exciting and fun. Well, his run of good luck expired during the making of this low-rent horror film. The story sees five young people run aground on a small island that is home for murderous evolutionary cousins of humankind. What follows is the usual jungle slasher, as members of the party are progressively slaughtered and the script finds weak justification to string along their deaths. But what could have been interesting if well-executed here hits a decidedly un-Reineian wall of blandness: dull, bland visual style, muddy cinematography and uninvolving direction. Really, who kidnapped Reiné? Maybe he finally met a budget so low that he couldn’t make it work. No matter why, The Lost Tribe is just a waste of time. Don’t let the director’s name fool you, and just avoid.