In 1940, the residents of a sleepy New England town walked along a trail called Yellowbrick Road, leaving behind their possessions. Some were found frozen, others mysteriously and horribly mutilated. There was one survivor. 70 Years later and the documents surrounding the case have been declassified. Armed with the case files, a crew of nine civilians resolve to set out along the trail, to find out what happened to the earlier inhabitants once and for all...
YellowBrickRoad has a GREAT concept and tries to put an innovative spin on the lost in the forest "subgenre". (if such a thing exists). Part mockumentary, part straight horror, it's certainly ambitious.
However, I gotta say... I just plain hated this film. I thought the execution sucked, and found it nonsensical, boring, unscary, frustrating and very very annoying. It has an "assault on the senses" segment, as noted by another reviewer on this page, that literally had me gritting my teeth, and I personally wondered if they put it in to prevent me falling asleep from boredom, as it's a very jarring sequence. It also has an unintentionally hilarious reaction from the performers, who act like the crew of the original Star Trek when hit by a Klingon torpedo or something. The conclusion is jaw droppingly ludicrous, weak and feels tacked on for the sake of it. It would be right at home on a Scary Door episode from Futurama, it's that ridiculous and silly.
So, yeah... I really disliked it and found it an incoherent mess and a very disappointing film.
BUT... I'm in the severe minority here, apparently. I caught this at Dead By Dawn 2011 and it went down quite well with the audience, with most seeming to love it, or at least like it, including the party I went with. (I was the one dissenter in our group) So, based on the audience reaction, I'm gonna say that this is very much a personal opinion here. It's basically kinda similar to Session 9, (in terms of atmosphere) only in a forest, and I'm one of the apparently few horror fans who was totally non-plussed by Session 9, while most like that one also, so anyone who likes Session 9, should like this.
3/10 from me. It just thoroughly annoyed and bored me from start to finish. That having said, based on audience reaction at Dead By Dawn, I'm actually gonna recommend fans to check it out, as it'll probably go down quite well with you. Just wasn't my cuppa tea at all though.
