Deadfall Trail (2009)

Really Surprised!

How sad is this?

best movie i've ever seen.

Admirable film.

I don't mean to belittle the director or anyone who worked on this film, because clearly it is a labor of love. A crew of people staying in the woods for 16 days filming a movie just as long takes guts. Unfortunately, the movie itself falls flat. At the same time, this movie is the reason why not everyone should make films. The movie is full of unclear motivations, sloppy dialog, and a nonsensical script. I can't believe the number of times I heard the words "good people" in this movie. Not only is this colloquialism a baseless adjective, but I almost laughed out loud when it was used as a term for one person. It was little errors like this that are the movies ultimate downfall. However, the actors are remarkably good given the source material, but the plot itself makes no sense whatsoever. I started counting the number of times Julian ran off the screen for no reason whatsoever. I still don't know why any of them took peyote, given the events in the film. Yet, none of this needs to be explained...apparently. There is no clear direction for the movie and the ending....well, it makes as little sense as the rest of the movie. Might be spoilers from this point forward: Three men hike into the woods and Julian, the nominal leader, has something to prove, or learn of himself or, just to go bloody ape-sh!t? There's a thread of discourse that takes place inside the actors that never becomes clear, never is stated out loud and frankly, is the largest plot hole of the movie of all. I say this for the same number of reasons as there are the cast: The first being, that the remarkably relaxed friend, John, seems to trust Julian with his life, who for all intents and purposes, appears one step away from insanity. I would never follow such a man into the woods for any reason whatsoever, but the beginning of the movie hints that something diabolical is going to occur later in the movie. John seems aware of this and trudges forward, like old friends. MAJOR SPOILER HERE: The second is Paul. He struggles with a number of questions in the movie, but one thing he shouldn't have hesitated at was killing Julian, or at least getting the hell away, after witnessing Julian bash John's head in with a rock. These people set off into the woods and under a week later, he watches Julian take John's life. With a large rock. I don't care if John was dead anyway, a rational person (allegedly Paul) should have recognized that from that point forward, he was dealing with a psychopath. Again, spoiler: And lastly, of course, there's Julian. Admittedly, Julian was the strongest actor of the three and I enjoyed watching him throughout the movie. I believe he acted out the part that the director intended for him perfectly. But that makes me question the director, not the actor. Why, oh why, did Julian go native in just about a week, kill his best friend, then Paul and end up running naked in the woods 34 days later killing search party members? The entire movie hinges on this and yet there is never any clear reasoning behind it. Again there are hints at his insanity from the get go, but any sane person wouldn't accompany this type of man into the wilderness.My hat's off to the actors for being as apt at communicating the intentions of the director. Yet the film industry can only handle a finite number of one named celebrities, and one of those names is not Roze.

The tough, no-nonsense Julian (a terrific performance by Shane Dean) and his more laid-back friend John (a solid and likable portrayal by Slade Hall) are veteran campers who decide to embark on a no-frills expedition into the deep Arizona wilderness. Obnoxious troublemaker and blundering tenderfoot Paul (well played to the annoying hilt by Cavin Gray Schneider) tags along. However, things go horribly awry after John gets seriously wounded and the subsequent pressure causes Julian to degenerate into a ferocious primal state. Director Roze, who also co-wrote the taut and absorbing script with Candace Rose and Josh Staman, relates the involving story at a steady pace, presents a trio of complex and well-drawn main characters, and neatly covers all the essential roughing it in the woods bases (i.e., eating bugs, starting a fire with sticks and twigs, digging for water under the ground, and so on). Moreover, the considerable tension between Julian and Paul is ably handled; their highly charged confrontations pack a potent dramatic punch and the gripping and suspenseful cat and mouse chase between them towards the end likewise totally smokes. The sturdy and credible acting by the three excellent leads keeps the picture humming, with Dean a particular stand-out throughout. Tari Segal's sharp widescreen cinematography gives the movie a striking picturesque look. Jason Camiolo's lively and harmonic country-rock score hits the rousing spot. A cool little film.

I have to agree with the other, few, reviewers here....why this film has barely a "4" rating is beyond me. It's about twice that good. Not only is it an interesting story, the characters are well-drawn and complex, the action is very well staged and performed, and even the special effects are creepy and effective.Julian and John (Shane Dean and Slade Hall) are well-worn survivalists. Their idea of a kick-ass weekend is to walk for a few days into Arizona desert with nothing but a couple bottles of water. Julian seems to have taken these treks a bit more seriously over the years, and balks when John invites his younger loud-mouthed bud Paul (Cavin Gray Schneider) along for their latest adventure into the Arizona Coconino (?) forest (a new one on me, but a very cool location).There's good tension between them as Julian and Paul constantly tear-down and one-up each other with John desperately trying to referee. Much like "Deliverance," however, the trio encounter an unexpected turn of events that has them fighting for their lives for two-thirds of the film.I'd never seen any of these actors before, and I was extremely impressed with all of them, particularly Shane Dean's Julian, who takes a role that could have easily been written off into crazy-ville and instead makes it compelling and oddly tragic.What really blew me away were the dream and drug-infused (via peyote, of course) sequences. For a low-budget movie, these were extremely creepy and vividly rendered.The ending is chilling, and not easy to shake. The only minor quibble I have with the film is many of the insider survivalist techniques. They're not really "explained" very well, and there's ample opportunity to do so, given that Paul's character is a newbie.But this is a minor flaw in an otherwise trippy, tense experience.

I had the opportunity of catching an advanced screening of this and was pleasantly surprised. We've all been duped before by fancy trailers and poster art so I went into this one with some hesitation. It lived up to the hype.From the first frame you know this isn't the same indie film that we've seen for the past ten years. The cinematography (it was shot on the same camera as Greenzone) is undeniably the best I've seen for under $100,000. It's not just the look either, it's the feel. The film is more of a throwback to when indie film was a mentality more than a genre.I can't say I would recommend this to everyone. It was a slow burner, pacing comparable to Moon or Transsiberian, with well placed punches of action throughout. That said, I wasn't bored for a moment. The characters and story kept me invested without unnecessary blood or nudity.Deadfall Trail will be a film you either love or hate. I can imagine the divide occurring within the last act when the film takes a surprising turn.I give it 8/10 and will definitely be seeing this again at the Phoenix Film Festival in April.Chris Heck