Shot partially in a found footage/documentary style, we are introduced to each member of the group through a psych evaluation by the groups doctor. They meet before heading to Friar and each go over their job in the group, we have a photographer/writer and his wife, the doctor, the guide/survival expert, the brother and sister map charting pair, and the medic girl. After their meeting, they head out.
We find Friar a ghost town, no people driving or walking the streets, no sounds, not hustle 'n bustle. It's barren. Using coordinates they had spent years prior searching for, they reach what should be the trail head... a theatre in the middle of Friar. They ask the ticket salesman if their was a trail near by and he ridicules them and tells them there is no trail. The popcorn girl over hears and when the scene is over gains the attention of Teddy (photographer) and tells him she knows where the trail is. Promising to bring her along, she leads them to the trail head and local party spot, The Yellow Brick Road.
I remember seeing this movie as one of the Bloody Disgusting selects playing in certain theatres but by the time I heard about it it had finished its theatrical run. I was intrigued by its premise, group traveling this mysterious trail and witnessing what the people did in 1940. It was hard to tell just what kind of movie it was going to be. And just how it would go about doing things. Now that I have had a chance to view it, I can say that intrigue was well spent. It's a great movie that does horror in a very different way. It's beautifully shot, has a great tale, and great sound.
As the group travels along the trail, things begin happening. Music play from out of no where, their instruments begin giving off strange or incorrect readings, as they track their location the miles they traveled and the distance they actually covered are vastly different. The music gets louder and more jagged, at times causing feed back to jolt through the group, pounding their ears. The music slowly eats away at them, tensions run high, people start acting off, they forget things.
As the brother and sister go off to mark a few locations, what should have been a minor squabble between the two turns into the brother brutally tearing out a chunk of his sisters face, bashing her leg with a rock and tearing the shattered limb from her body.
So much goes on from there on, everyone losing it, the group splitting up, rationing food, and Teddy still wants to follow the trail. The music tears and rips at the people, knocking them to the ground, driving them to suicide and murder. Its nuts.
After all is said and done, we have Teddy and the trail. He reaches the end only to find a lone theatre. He watches a movie. His wife's dream of the world turning to ash. His punishment for leaving everyone to die.
Yea, the ending was very WTF? But the rest of the movie was amazing, good tension, good scenery, good everything else. I really don't know what to say about it, it's very confusing but very good.
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