YellowBrickRoad

YellowBrickRoad

Starring Michael Laurino, Anessa Ramsey, Laura Heisler, Clark Freeman

Directed by Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton

The Story:
In 1940 in the small town of Friar, New Hampshire, the entire population mysteriously walked into the woods and were never heard from again.  This has intrigued writer Teddy Barnes (Michael Laurino) who, along with his wife Melissa (Anessa Ramsey) and friend Walter (Alex Draper), decide to investigate for themselves the mystery and write a book about it.  They bring on a crew, including local townie Liv (Laura Heisler), and together they enter the mysterious woods in hopes of finding out what happened.  What they find is worse than they could've imagined.

The Synopsis:
I've always been intrigued about mysterious disappearances, such as the mystery surrounding the Roanoke colony in 1587, and the Dylatov Pass mystery in Russia, where nine hikers mysteriously died from shocking causes.  "YellowBrickRoad" begins with a mystery all its own, which immediately drew me in because the film was (fictitiously) based off one of these types of mysteries.  The film takes its time unraveling, like thread off a spool, and provides some great characters and fantastic scenery, but unfortunately unspools entirely at the third act.

The film begins with title cards that mention a small town in New Hampshire where, in 1940, the entire town wandered into the woods and were never heard from again.  For amateur writer Teddy, this is a mystery that's plagued him for years, and he finally gets the information he needs to write a book about the incident - by entering the woods himself.  He takes along his wife Melissa, friend Walter, and a team of adventurers to investigate.  At first the trip is a fun one for the group, but then they start hearing mysterious music in the woods, which ebbs and flows to ear-shattering crescendos, causing the company to begin loosing their minds and turning on one another.

The film has a strong beginning, offering a tantalizing mystery and likeable characters, and we all know how this will eventually turn out - and unlike "The Wizard of Oz," it won't be a happy one.  The film relies heavily on the classic movie to tell its own tale, from the road itself called the Yellow Brick Road to several mentions of the movie by the characters, this is indeed a strange take on the classic film - after all, the citizens of the town all went into the woods after watching the movie in the theater.

Directors Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton (who also wrote the film) do an excellent job at pacing for the first two-thirds of the movie, allowing the terror and fear to slowly build as we see the slow disintegration of our eight hapless adventurers, and we ourselves are drawn in as well.  A few days into the adventure, they start hearing old-timey music in the middle of nowhere, and they - along with us - don't know where it's coming from.  At first they enjoy the music, but it slowly drives them insane due to its ear-shattering crescendos and repetitiveness, much like how the government uses music to break down terrorist suspects.

What makes "YellowBrickRoad" so intriguing is that there isn't any supernatural monster lurking in the woods, and shows that sometimes the greatest thing we can fear is ourselves.  The crew slowly begins turning on one another, and even question their own sanity, in a completely natural way that you'd expect people to do when they've been in the woods for several days.  The continuous music they hear doesn't help, and neither does the fact that none of their guidance systems are working (at one point they hilariously make note that one of the girl's electronic maps says they're in Guam), and it's only a matter of time before they start to crack.

The cracking - also known as the last third of the film - is where the film falters.  They spent a lot of time developing characters and building up the tension, and then it all leads to them turning on one another in grotesque ways, but also unintentionally hilarious.  I found myself laughing a few times when I know I shouldn't, but that's because the ending just came out of nowhere, after such a climactic buildup.  They say a great film is one that begins and ends on high notes, and while this one started off promising, the ending had something to be desired.

The Summary:
Offering a tantalizing puzzle for its premise, "YellowBrickRoad" does a great job at building tension and mood, giving interesting characters and a beautiful landscape, but abandoning it all for the final act where the film goes off the deep end and becomes just another typical forest horror movie.

The Score: C+