The Shortcut (2009)

Director:

Nicholaus Goossen

Writers (WGA):

Dan Hannon (written by) &
Scott Sandler (written by)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Two brothers come upon a rarely used shortcut in their new town |

Cast

Andrew Seeley	...	Derek (as Drew Seeley)
Shannon Woodward	...	Lisa
Dave Franco	...	Mark
Katrina Bowden	...	Christy
Raymond J. Barry	...	Old Man / Ivor (as Raymond Barry)
Kent Allen	...	Mr. Hartley
Wendy Anderson	...	Derek's Mom
Jeremy Bastian	...	Benjamin (1940s)
Cavan Cunningham	...	School Administrator
William B. Davis	...	Benjamin
Benjamin DeWalt	...	Benjamin (1950s)
Nicholas Elia	...	Tobey
Josh Emerson	...	Taylor
Jonelle Gunderson	...	Sally (1950s)
Shannon Jardine	...	Ms. Milan

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and terror, language, sexual material, thematic elements and brief teen drinking.

Runtime:

Germany:100 min (European Film Market)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Company:

Happy Madison Productions

Movie Connections:

References The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

More bizarre than i thought it would be, still contains most of the regular teen-horror-flick attributes

The plot and the whole story of this movie reminded me very much of 2003 slasher-horror flick called 'Wrong Turn'. Although i realized that 'The Shortcut' is somewhat different, it still follows the same concept, group of teenagers (in 'Wrong Turn' they were young adults) find an old, unused path through the forest, unfortunately for them these kind of paths often seem to be inhabited by madmen. And unsurprisingly that's also the case in 'The Shortcut'.

The cast is really nice, at least i thought so. Dudes are perfect for madmen fodder and the chicks are hot. Killing scenes are well-made, surprisingly well for this kind of B-horror movie. One thing that surprised me was that unlike the other horrors that are similar to this one (e.g. 'Wrong Turn'), in 'The Shortcut' the whole madmen thing is tried to explain, the few sequences of the villain's past are shown that help us understand the whole story and who is who. I thought that was pretty thoughtful and good, as long as those "flashback" sequences weren't long, and indeed they weren't. The whole villain thing is kind of bizarre, and i find it just because of those flashbacks, because that way you get to know that character better. In movies like 'Friday the 13th' or 'Wrong Turn' you don't consider the villains too bizarre, they are just usual bad guys that love to slash teenager's throats, but in 'The Shortcut' you get a different dose of villains, and it's definitely true that the psycho-killer with a "normal" face is scarier than psycho-killer with deformed face, well...at least on a movie.

Definitely watch this movie if you're a fan of horror films in general, if you're not, stay away from this terror-chiller. It's more disturbing than you think it will be, trust me.