Deadfall Trail (2009)

Really Surprised!

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I don't mean to belittle the director or anyone who worked on this film, because clearly it is a labor of love. A crew of people staying in the woods for 16 days filming a movie just as long takes guts. Unfortunately, the movie itself falls flat. At the same time, this movie is the reason why not everyone should make films. The movie is full of unclear motivations, sloppy dialog, and a nonsensical script. I can't believe the number of times I heard the words "good people" in this movie. Not only is this colloquialism a baseless adjective, but I almost laughed out loud when it was used as a term for one person. It was little errors like this that are the movies ultimate downfall. However, the actors are remarkably good given the source material, but the plot itself makes no sense whatsoever. I started counting the number of times Julian ran off the screen for no reason whatsoever. I still don't know why any of them took peyote, given the events in the film. Yet, none of this needs to be explained...apparently. There is no clear direction for the movie and the ending....well, it makes as little sense as the rest of the movie. Might be spoilers from this point forward: Three men hike into the woods and Julian, the nominal leader, has something to prove, or learn of himself or, just to go bloody ape-sh!t? There's a thread of discourse that takes place inside the actors that never becomes clear, never is stated out loud and frankly, is the largest plot hole of the movie of all. I say this for the same number of reasons as there are the cast: The first being, that the remarkably relaxed friend, John, seems to trust Julian with his life, who for all intents and purposes, appears one step away from insanity. I would never follow such a man into the woods for any reason whatsoever, but the beginning of the movie hints that something diabolical is going to occur later in the movie. John seems aware of this and trudges forward, like old friends. MAJOR SPOILER HERE: The second is Paul. He struggles with a number of questions in the movie, but one thing he shouldn't have hesitated at was killing Julian, or at least getting the hell away, after witnessing Julian bash John's head in with a rock. These people set off into the woods and under a week later, he watches Julian take John's life. With a large rock. I don't care if John was dead anyway, a rational person (allegedly Paul) should have recognized that from that point forward, he was dealing with a psychopath. Again, spoiler: And lastly, of course, there's Julian. Admittedly, Julian was the strongest actor of the three and I enjoyed watching him throughout the movie. I believe he acted out the part that the director intended for him perfectly. But that makes me question the director, not the actor. Why, oh why, did Julian go native in just about a week, kill his best friend, then Paul and end up running naked in the woods 34 days later killing search party members? The entire movie hinges on this and yet there is never any clear reasoning behind it. Again there are hints at his insanity from the get go, but any sane person wouldn't accompany this type of man into the wilderness.My hat's off to the actors for being as apt at communicating the intentions of the director. Yet the film industry can only handle a finite number of one named celebrities, and one of those names is not Roze.

The tough, no-nonsense Julian (a terrific performance by Shane Dean) and his more laid-back friend John (a solid and likable portrayal by Slade Hall) are veteran campers who decide to embark on a no-frills expedition into the deep Arizona wilderness. Obnoxious troublemaker and blundering tenderfoot Paul (well played to the annoying hilt by Cavin Gray Schneider) tags along. However, things go horribly awry after John gets seriously wounded and the subsequent pressure causes Julian to degenerate into a ferocious primal state. Director Roze, who also co-wrote the taut and absorbing script with Candace Rose and Josh Staman, relates the involving story at a steady pace, presents a trio of complex and well-drawn main characters, and neatly covers all the essential roughing it in the woods bases (i.e., eating bugs, starting a fire with sticks and twigs, digging for water under the ground, and so on). Moreover, the considerable tension between Julian and Paul is ably handled; their highly charged confrontations pack a potent dramatic punch and the gripping and suspenseful cat and mouse chase between them towards the end likewise totally smokes. The sturdy and credible acting by the three excellent leads keeps the picture humming, with Dean a particular stand-out throughout. Tari Segal's sharp widescreen cinematography gives the movie a striking picturesque look. Jason Camiolo's lively and harmonic country-rock score hits the rousing spot. A cool little film.

It's a shame when people undertake the effort to make a feature film when they simply do not have the requisite tools to even superficially command the craft. The filmmaker(s) should have spent more time doing another short film or two in order to better prepare (or better yet) learn the craft of story design and character development. The movie is reasonably well shot, but this is the extent of what I'm willing to give this movie. Good work by DP.The movie drags and drags. The characters are not well drawn – very little debt. All we get is three guys that go into the forest on a self-imposed mission to test themselves with very little water and a bag of peyote. The reason for this is not very well justified. We're left to assume that it's a contrived "guys" thing – not good enough as far as a premise goes. We're not given a whole lot of insight into Julian's character aside from the fact that he's got some sort of unresolved internal issues – none of this is well mapped. He and Paul are drawn up as having issues with on another, but again nothing is really fleshed out in any discernible dramatic sense. Their relationship is flat and one-note.As mentioned earlier, nothing really happens with these guys. The structure is week and no discernible dramatic tension is created that is able to sustain a feature length telling of the story (or lack thereof). The movie simply wallows along as we follow these week characters through the forest.I really long for the days when people stop pretending to be filmmakers just because they have the financial means to do so. Of course, we can't really define well made movies without having our fair share of bad or mediocre movies like this one. The filmmakers of Deadfall Trail will do well to be honest with themselves and learn to appreciate the art of story craft – maybe consult those that do have experience instead of assuming that they already have the tools. Learn how to write stories that resonate with the audience and populate your story with compelling characters that have some emotional debt and complexity and are able to pull the audience along. Reach out for serious notes from experienced story tellers if you need to. And don't fall into the fatal trap of only taking notes that praise or validate you. Learn how to work with honest notes, even if it hurts. From what I understand, the filmmakers are instructors at a two year film program in Scottsdale, Arizona? My hopes are that this does not cloud their ability to take notes from others. It's very easy for people like this to feel like they have all the answers when surrounded by eager students that look up to them.

the actors all showed incredible heart in this movie, I gotta say it was intense. Awesome, the characters were all on the money. Ending was crazy but I saw it coming from way back. the main guy looked like the dude from hit-man and the crazies, Tim Olpyant or something. I'm high. kinda scary just to think about what could happen if you go to the woods with a stranger and things get twisted and you gotta go to war. See who da man be! Right... so its awesome just don't be a weeping willow and you will enjoy it. Some folks might want to go ahead and stop it when there's only like 2 mins left, completely different feel. Is this 10 lines yet, Christ!