The Shortcut (2009)

So much average

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Not a bad little movie, good sub plot, good screenplay, well directed, flowed well in pace. Raymond Barry carries the fil as the crazy aloof old man. A basic moral in that you don't take shortcuts especially alone. Not your typical slasher film, but it had it's suspense, and a very interesting twist that people really won't see coming.

This movie revolves around a mysterious road that works as a shortcut in the middle of a typical US housing suburb. Those who take that route end up disappearing and, as there is a school nearby, there is some local care so that the children don't go there. Being a teen-oriented movie it has a few teenagers in the spotlight but it doesn't have bloody carnage filled with tomato juice, as the vast majority of teen horror movies. This will probably keep away the gore fans, without general public feel any lack of them, or gore itself. The movie tries to build some suspense around the shortcut and what goes on there, and succeeds in that. It doesn't waste time where it shouldn't nor runs over story to get where it wants. The cast isn't particularly sounding but it does what we could expect, though without ever giving us anything else. Nonetheless, the absence of great actors and a more elaborate and and psychological plot make this film something that only serves to spend an hour or two. It's not a bad movie, it's even better than a lot of teen crap! It's pure entertainment... but it's not more than that.

After starting this movie, I found myself constantly checking to see how far into the film I was.At the 30 minute mark, the movie was still was not doing anything for me. Yes, they give you a little bit of background (a few minutes ), and the rest is spent attempting to shape some characters - but alas, nothing interesting. I actually started to nod off.45 minutes in - they finally have one good scene. Then, it's back to the teeny-bopper, high school setting.Not sure how they can classify this as "horror" or even suspense, with just a handful of tense scenes. I am not a fan of gore, and don't need blood to enjoy a movie - but I do like to be taken by surprise, or startled. A thrill or two is great. You simply won't find anything here.

THE SHORTCUT pretty much has a familiar formula but what sets it apart from the other films of it type is that it has a more fleshed out storyline that develops the main characters and the villains as well, its also never really in a hurry to get to the hacking and slashing parts its actually very plot driven and not even too concerned about showcasing a bunch of gore, it even generates a decent amount of suspense and manages to establish an unsettling mood exactly when it needs to.The acting is very good, I don't know any of the cast members or I might not have seen them before and it has fairly likable characters which is something you barely see in these types of films, normally you get a bunch of teens that annoy the living hell out of you you just want to smash your DVD player in two because the killer is taking to long to kill them.Overall, out of many of the recent horror fair I've seen THE SHORTCUT probably has the lowest body count and is the least gore driven but at the same time its also one of the better horror films I've seen, it has an ending that sucks but that's normal for most better than average horror films.