Stay Out, Stay alive. A quick-fire review.
So, bored, sick, and looking for something to watch, I found myself watching a number of poor movies. And, this little film was one of them. Unfortunately, I feel like I wasted an hour and a half that I can't get back. I'm not one to be hard on films as I'm no professional critic, but sometimes a film comes along and you can't help but think, Why did I watch this? This happens more often than people talk about, with that urge to watch something to alleviate boredom, and the resulting disappointment at your choice. I have to admit that I didn't have much hope this would be good after watching the trailer, but I thought, what the hell. Yeah, my mistake.
This is a ghost story, of sorts. It centers around a curse laid on this land, a curse made by a native american chief after his people were murdered due to the greed around the gold mines in the area. We have our group of campers who stumble upon this abandoned mine, a mix of cliches found in most horror films. The acting is far from great, barely managing to be believable, with some very obvious over-acting on some occasions. After the sister of Bridget, Donna, goes for a walk in the forest in the dark, always a wise choice, the rest realise that she has not returned in the morning. It turns out she fell and landed in a mine shaft, her foot somehow caught under a rock. Unsure how that was supposed to have happened, but fine, and whilst looking around the area, they find gold. There are choices made here that make no sense to me, but it seems they were made merely to push the story forward. A lot happens here that is incredibly stupid, and Donna, apparently a nurse, makes decisions that are unbelievable given the training she would have received. If she made it out, she could kiss that foot goodbye. Anyway, we begin to see hints of a supernatural presence influencing our group, to various degrees, and they begin to spiral. It's the standard poor decisions, with easily influenced characters, and the subtle manipulation of supernatural forces. None of these characters is interesting, and I highly doubt that any of the actors here will go on to have a stand-out career. All in all, it is a poor watch with the predictable twists and spirals into paranoia, madness, and greed. There is a scene towards the end that reminded me heavily of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I half expected the words 'let it go, let it go, Indiana' to be used, but in this scenario, the one being held onto made the dumb choice.
This film is an easy 3 out of 10. Poorly acted, poorly written, and barely interesting. The scares are minimal, the story nonsensical, and the characters get what they deserve. I would just like to highlight that the main idiot is the stereotypical douchebag boyfriend, and his acting is trite at best. A complete waste of time, unless you want to watch it drunk and take the mick out of the film. Give this one a miss.