The Shortcut (2009)

Dreadfully Boring

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Not a bad little movie, good sub plot, good screenplay, well directed, flowed well in pace. Raymond Barry carries the fil as the crazy aloof old man. A basic moral in that you don't take shortcuts especially alone. Not your typical slasher film, but it had it's suspense, and a very interesting twist that people really won't see coming.

Normally, I wouldn't give a PG horror movie the time of day. Films like Twilight are not my idea of vampire movies. But, I just watched Tucker and Dale vs Evil and I wanted to see Katrina Bowden again.The movie was mostly disappointing through the first two acts. It wasn't until there were only 20 minutes left that we saw any real action. Then, it was intense as the kids were running for their lives. The story was predictable. I won't give anything away. The ending was a jolt and showed some real creativity.No standout performances, except for maybe Raymond J. Barry, who played the old man in the woods.You can find something better to watch.

I did not have deep expectations for this movie when i stuck it in the DVD player. It started like an old school thriller that gives the viewer pretty much the idea how it will develop and run.I expected a better start than a cheap slasher flick scene which tells you how the movie would turn out. The cast is way better than the inadequate story line. Music riffs are well crafted to add more to the fear otherwise it would only fall flat . I can say this is an offshoot of Adam Sandler's motion picture company and i really need to give 10 out of 10 for the photography and the music director of this movie. Picture is worth an ovation. What i did not really understand was why instead of calling the police to track down the house of the alleged slasher guys are trying to break into the man's garage where they find weird things . The cliché is how the cast is trying to scare themselves off backing up the music . btw another cliché is sex innuendos the main characters are having in the car while lurking on the killer. I guess concealment is more important than making out in the car where you are heck close to the slasher . dude watch out he may come and slash you :). another cliché to spoil about is the guys perusing the garage of the slasher almost all through the movie . the director is quite nitwit to use these old school Hollywood clichés to scare the teenager audience . I would not recommend this movie for people who have a lot of expectations from a horror flick . I would be totally bewildered if in one movie the phone signal is available when the victims try to call 911. Almost in every slasher movie the cellphone is used for the despairing feeling the runners hold onto .i am rating this flick 3 out of 10 . Evren Buyruk from USA

I was looking forward to this movie and it started out quite good: An old legend, flashbacks, a possible love triangle, Seeley as a likable lead, etc.BUT...and this is a pretty big 'but'...the first 65 minutes felt like a detective movie for kids...you know, something you watch on a Sunday afternoon where some kids are spying on a creepy old man.Even though we get the psycho kid and the dead dog pretty early...that's about it. NOTHING HAPPENS! We see the kids at school, at work and a stupid blonde that plays football like a little princess who is afraid to get dirty..(seriously, they just could have made her a cheerleader, that would have been more believable). There was a whole lot about that girl that didn't even make sense: Why bring up that she wants to go to an Ivy League university and point out that she isn't taken seriously by the headmaster when it isn't further explained to add depth to her character? Why bring up her boyfriend when we never see him? Why put her on the movie poster when her role was so unimportant? They should have put Taylor on there...at least he had more on-screen time. Other than that we don't really know anything about the characters in this movie, there is no development, no emotional depth...nothing!Well okay, where was I? The plot! From the moment you see psycho kid's brother in one of the flashbacks you know that he is the creepy old man cleaning up the mess behind his deranged little brother. There is no suspense...you just know the whole 'plot twist' after 20 minutes.And the end, oh my god i don't even know where to start!As if to make up for all the time nothing happened, suddenly EVERYTHING happens: the kids free psycho-man and he kills them (the two boys literally within seconds!!! They die like some unimportant extras). I mean, maybe it was supposed to be the big finale but that's just not how you build suspense in a horror movie. I actually thought for a while that no one was going to die because everything felt too harmless and than THIS.Well and than the END...this was next to psycho brother's 'goodbye' speech (3 minutes ago he wanted to shoot the kids and then: "i can't do this anymore...i love you") the most ridiculous part of all: Derek's little brother shows up and is a psycho, too. TADAAA! Once again, you knew this was gonna happen because Lisa was mean to him, the hints about 'trouble at his old school' and the way he played the video game. When they continued the movie with Derek and Lisa walking through the woods, you knew that the new little psycho would show up and kill her for what she had said before. And Derek? He screams "No, Lisa, no!" and then turns into a psycho himself. Just like that...without further explanation. And don't give me that "He wants to protect his little brother crap and he isn't really a bad guy" because he just doesn't care about the fact that the little freak just killed his friend. There is no deeper dramatic side to this. You just have A LOT of psychos. This movie was disturbing...but not in a good way that horror flicks sometimes are. It doesn't make you think. You rather feel the need to complain because they screwed it up so badly in the end.I still think it's interesting that Mr.Sandler is now making Horror flicks ...maybe the next one is going to be better! I sure hope so!