The Oregonian (2011)

Thanks for the memories!

Best movie ever!

Beautiful, moving film.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The Oregonian is a lesser known feature film set in the rural Oregon wilderness. First screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in 2011, respected director Steven Spielberg once called it "genre defining." With a limited budget, budding producer Calvin Reeder uses unique cinematic effects to send chills down any viewer's spine. The Oregonian does away with traditional big budget horror scares and uses techniques such as distorted sound effects and the element of suspense to deliver sharp and genuinely disturbing scares. The star studded cast drives this film's intensity, including a night-maringly scary "Green Monster" character that you are always on the lookout for. With an extremely unpredictable plot and major character development, this film is a refreshing take on the horror genre. This unpredictable plot keeps you on your toes the whole ride, and culminates in an incredible climax that leaves more questions than answers. "What does the omelet represent?" "Can I trust my own Grandma the next time I see her?" "How much gasoline can one man drink?" You may interpret the ending how you like, but there is no denying this is an amazing film that pushes the boundaries of what we know to be true in the horror industry. Strap in for this wild ride and I can assure you it will be well worth your time.

It is honestly sad that there is an actual limit to ten stars for the greatest mystery and horror flick to have ever been created. The Oregonian stars a battered blonde in a hot mess, on the run from a troubled pass of getting put in her place. She is lost and travels through the woods in Oregon that is probably only five miles from a bar considering the number of car accidents caused from alcohol. Other than their message of do not drink and drive, it is also made clear to never leave the farm. The real lesson is that she should just stay in the kitchen.Maybe your husband has to discipline his wife a little bit, but it is way more dangerous to leave the farm. The film has a mysterious monster, and twist that will leave at the edge of your seat. Always remember to watch out for granny and never trust the green monster.

The Oregonian is a tragic telling of a woman who gets in a car wreck in the middle of nowhere and tries to find her way to help. She comes across many individuals throughout her journey that bring her down different paths and show her a certain way of life. What the movie represents is life itself and the different paths we can go down on that journey. The girl herself resembles death as she is constantly shown in a red plaid shirt and covered in blood. Several times she attempts to wipe off the blood with water, but the red blood continues to reappear on her face which could show her attempt to escape from death. The red that she is surrounded foreshadows the path she chose as death came before her. The green that often appears with the green monster thing and the green room she goes through shows the path of life that she had the option of going down. In a later scene it is shown of her in the green monsters costume beating a man with a pipe. This ensues to her being covered in blood and the mixture of the colors green and red, or the two roads of life and death. One of the last scenes where the girl is seen having an omelet shoved into her represents fertility and her lack of such quality. This idea of fertility can be brought around to one of the earlier scenes where the girl's husband gets mad at her for having an affair, which can be assumed to have been brought up to her lack of fertility. We also see the idea of infertility when the man makes eggs and leaves the cracked eggs in the toilet for the girl to see. With this being said, The Oregonian is a horrifying experience of one girl's path of life or death and the influence her infertility had on that choice.

Great, intricate soundtrack, that is on equal footing with the hallucinatory imagery packed into this 80 minute little gem. Has an enigmatic quality that is missing from so many movies that come out now. Also has some great one-liners ("too much breakfast maybe") and imagery that will stick with you. So many reviews on here get hung up on the plot. Going into this movie looking for a plot is like waking up in the morning and looking for the plot to your life. There just isn't one. All you have is how you experience your world and interpret it subjectively. Why do people demand so much more from film than they do from real life? Do people wake up angry that their dreams don't make any sense, and if so what's that point in that? Glean what you can and go forth. Where is this 10 Commandments of what film should be that people seem to be referring to when they say what should or shouldn't go into a movie? There isn't one. There are only parameters by which most movies adhere to, so as to please the burping, farting masses in society. Then there films like the Oregonian that shun the template and carve their own footing in cinema. And cinema is all the richer for it. Cinema is an art form, if you can't appreciate certain forms of it that's on you as an individual. There are no right or wrong ways in film, only ways. Those telling people not to watch this, or any film, is a disservice to all art forms. It's also a very arrogant and selfish perspective on life: "Don't do/see this thing because I didn't like it". Well who the hell are you? And for those who say "there's 2 hours of my life I'll never have back", unless you were going to be finding the cure for cancer in that time, I'm sure everyone's okay with that. People complain about movies all being the same, but once one comes along that's different, it's pounced on by the same people for being too weird. If you want films to break free from the shackles of convention, you need to be okay with them playing out in unconventional ways.See this movie for yourself. Love it for yourself. Hate it for yourself. No need to appease the brats who can't stand the idea of someone enjoying something they can't get their brains around.