9.5/12
This was certainly an uncomfortable film. The whole thing makes you feel uneasy. Not much really happens here. But, the things that do happen are all or nothing. This movie can perfectly embody anxiety and the throbbing existential fear of being boorishly raped and killed by hillbillies, lost in the middle of nowhere with constant eyes on you, and the fear that no one can be trusted, especially authority. I feel like this film had the same creepy effect that "The Hills Have Eyes" had, but far succeeds the filmmaking techniques, production value, acting, and overall visual style.
I'm not going to go incredibly in depth but there are a few points. Part of the fear in this movie is the misdirection. It leads you to expect more, but not a lot happens. The initial scene with the creepy townsfolk create an uneasy, unfriendly feeling and the rape scene explosively unleashes our fears and anxieties and the rest of the movie just plays off our post-traumatic expectations. But like real life, there isn't another explosive incident. It's just constant fear and PTSD that something will happen. The other point I wanted to raise was that this film gets props for including a scene about male rape, which is typically too taboo and repressed in society. It's very bold and graphic and I'm glad it was represented as so. Men get raped in real life. It's not always in the middle of the woods at gun point. But, it's very real and unfortunately, the character who was assaulted didn't have much about it afterwards. He seemed to repress it and move on. I would've liked to see more of his trauma and how he deals with this moving forward.
This review has gone on long enough. I could write an entire analysis on those topics or even touch on the cinematography, the sexual psychology of the film with masculinity and frustration, the depiction of hicks and the stigma around it, the music with the banjo and choice of Yankee Doodle, and the environmental importance of the dam, the town, and the river itself.
This was certainly an uncomfortable film. The whole thing makes you feel uneasy. Not much really happens here. But, the things that do happen are all or nothing. This movie can perfectly embody anxiety and the throbbing existential fear of being boorishly raped and killed by hillbillies, lost in the middle of nowhere with constant eyes on you, and the fear that no one can be trusted, especially authority. I feel like this film had the same creepy effect that "The Hills Have Eyes" had, but far succeeds the filmmaking techniques, production value, acting, and overall visual style.
I'm not going to go incredibly in depth but there are a few points. Part of the fear in this movie is the misdirection. It leads you to expect more, but not a lot happens. The initial scene with the creepy townsfolk create an uneasy, unfriendly feeling and the rape scene explosively unleashes our fears and anxieties and the rest of the movie just plays off our post-traumatic expectations. But like real life, there isn't another explosive incident. It's just constant fear and PTSD that something will happen. The other point I wanted to raise was that this film gets props for including a scene about male rape, which is typically too taboo and repressed in society. It's very bold and graphic and I'm glad it was represented as so. Men get raped in real life. It's not always in the middle of the woods at gun point. But, it's very real and unfortunately, the character who was assaulted didn't have much about it afterwards. He seemed to repress it and move on. I would've liked to see more of his trauma and how he deals with this moving forward.
This review has gone on long enough. I could write an entire analysis on those topics or even touch on the cinematography, the sexual psychology of the film with masculinity and frustration, the depiction of hicks and the stigma around it, the music with the banjo and choice of Yankee Doodle, and the environmental importance of the dam, the town, and the river itself.