This movie starts with a man slumped at the front gate of a cabin. An older man stands in front of him, watching him impassively, as he pleads, “I didn’t mean to break the rules.” The older man calmly grabs his head, and, with one hand, pulls it off his shoulders.
So that’s where we’re at.
Sometimes you see a movie that is so low-budget, so obviously just someone had a camera and decided to try to throw a movie together, that somehow, improbably, it has enough heart to actually watch.
This movie is sub-bottom-of-the-barrel. According to the credits, it was written, directed, edited, and everything else by one guy. It stars like 4 people, has virtually no special effects, the acting is “local theater” quality at best, if these people are even actually actors.
The plot is, father and son go on a hunting retreat to a cabin where the owner insists on a lot of strange rules: “Don’t shake hands with the one-eyed man. Tip him $1.” “Don’t answer the door for anyone who knocks three times.” “No hunting between 3AM and 4AM.” “You can’t leave until the watchman lets you.” Things like that.
This is one of those movies where they just pile on weird things, and never really explain why… the weird things *are* the plot, and that’s all there is to it.
Needless to say, the rules soon aren’t being followed, and there’s a price to be paid. Why? Because, movie. Why are there those rules in the first place? Movie. Why…. Stop asking. The answer is “Because, movie.”
And, you know what, if this movie had had a $500 budget, it would have been the worst of the worst. But given that it looks like it had about a $25 budget, I was actually a little charmed. And, it was weird enough to be unique, if that counts for anything by itself. It definitely wasn’t cliche… at least, not cliches you see very often.
Unfortunately the third act kind of sags. That’s the only thing keeping me from thinking, abysmal though it is, that I could see watching it again at some point.