Red Canyon

Starring: Christine Lakin, Tim Draxl, Katie Maguire

Synopsis:

Several years after experiencing a traumatic event in their mother’s hometown, two siblings, Regina (Lakin) and Devon (Draxl), along with a few of their friends, go back to where it all occurred in order to decide whether or not to sell off their late mother’s house. Ever since the incident took place, Regina (Lakin) has experienced flashbacks of the event and is easily spooked. In order to face her fears, she returns to the nearby cave where the horror first began. Little does she know, what she discovers there will only worsen her deep-rooted terror. For Regina and her friends, their idyllic trip to the quiet desert town is about to go downhill as members of the group are shot, sliced, chopped and stabbed by a brutal assailant.

Red Canyon is one of those independent movies which has a pretty original script and shows flashes of talent. However there is also a lot of mire to get through aswell.

Things start off terribly with a flash-back sequence which is murky and blurry as hell, that it’s almost impossible to tell what’s going on. Now, at the end of the film we learn that this is partly on purpose: what we are seeing is Regie’s blurred memories of what originally happened in the mineshaft. But that hindsight doesn’t excuse the dreadful editing and camera work.After this messy prologue things settle down – a little. The hi-def camera certainly loves the rugged countryside on display (a scene where the group go for a hike through a bizarre-looking valley is the film’s visual highlight.

The acting is serviceable at best. The script, while good for plot, is light on giving the protagonists anything to do when not engaged in life/death situations. There’s a lot of standing around and talking before anything really gets going.

While the camera loves the Big Outdoors, it isn’t so taken with the kill scenes, which all bar one feel completely botched. There are some nice gore fx after the kills, but just about every confrontation leaves the viewer disorientated.

It’s not all doom and gloom for anyone looking for some visceral thrills. The film’s best scenes involve one of the guys being impaled on a signpost, while one of the girls has a genius moment after receiving a brutal beating. Her choice of action was the highlight of the film.

The finale brings on a number of twists and turns which would give any soap opera a season’s worth of stories. They put an interesting spin on some of the earlier events in the film, even finally clarifying what had actually happened all those years ago. However not everyone who starts watching this film are likely to get this far as there are so many obstacles in the way of an enjoyable viewing experience.

Verdict

Some original ideas are at play in the script, but the talent behind and in front of the camera aren’t quite up to the job of realising it fully for the screen.

5 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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