This is a very straightforward (i.e. unimaginative) but competently made spin on the basic "Deliverance" premise of some privileged middle-class men going into the wilderness for a little camping/hunting adventure, but running afoul of the stereotypically inbred local hicks. The blundering stupidity the protagonists manifest in repeatedly offending the surly/cumb locals is pretty stupid in itself, but oh well: That's what happens in these kinds of movies.
This film doesn't push the formula toward the overt horror of something like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "The Hills Have Eyes" (though the locals DO, suspiciously, have their very own meat business), but neither is it as credibly harrowing as something like "Eden Lake" or...well, "Deliverance," of course. Performances are OK, pacing is decent. It's all unmemorable but energetically done. My only quibble is a particularly cheap (and pointless) fadeout that suggests "The terror isn't over yet!"
(My only question is: Why was Sam Bottoms billed as "Samuel" here? Did he go through some mid-career phase when he suddenly thought Sam was too childish? I mean, he'd already been acting for 15 years.)
This film doesn't push the formula toward the overt horror of something like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "The Hills Have Eyes" (though the locals DO, suspiciously, have their very own meat business), but neither is it as credibly harrowing as something like "Eden Lake" or...well, "Deliverance," of course. Performances are OK, pacing is decent. It's all unmemorable but energetically done. My only quibble is a particularly cheap (and pointless) fadeout that suggests "The terror isn't over yet!"
(My only question is: Why was Sam Bottoms billed as "Samuel" here? Did he go through some mid-career phase when he suddenly thought Sam was too childish? I mean, he'd already been acting for 15 years.)