BelSports
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Calum Hutton
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
kharley471
This is an uneven film that is definitely worth seeing. In expressing women's secret fears and fantasies it goes farther than others and is quite frank about the villain's (King-Phillips) sexual frustration. Any woman watching this film is going to ask herself, as I did, what she would do in the same situation, and perhaps imagine differing scenarios. The irony is that the physically adorable but repulsively abusive Vern picks an insipid snob, one he constantly criticizes ("You wouldn't last out here alone," "City people are soft," etc.) despite seething with passion for her.As Renee, Weiss is perfectly cast and gives an understated performance that may not seem like acting, since she is playing a an ordinary college student, incurious about the wilderness and unskilled at both survival and ingratiating herself to her captor. Being tone-deaf in her dealings with him ("My family has money,") her character is not very sympathetic either. Her attitude toward the lifestyle of both Vern and his father (Haggerty) literally wrenched a gasp from my throat. Her character reminded me of girls I had gone to college with - knowing only society's straight line, not interested in true freedom or the discovery of being desperately wanted by a man, even if he is not her dreamboat.Unfortunately, the film shies away from the natural consequences of the intriguing situation it has set up, and veers into cliché and sensation. The ending is simultaneously absurd and hilarious, due to a bravura performance by King-Phillips, while Weiss and Haggerty fall into their steps as stock characters. The depth built up in the male characters is lost in the film's rush to its ending, and feels like a betrayal.King-Phillip's portrayal of Vern apparently has a cult following, and it is justified. It's just too bad that some of the scenarios that I imagined between Vern and Renee (or me) were not expressed for me in this film.
bigboybhatia
I saw this movie late one night on a movie channel here in Canada. It has received some medicore reviews here, but I think the movie is slightly above average, all things considered.Yes, it was a low budget movie and that's quite obvious. The beautiful scenery of the Canadian wilderness is breathtaking. The characters played by Haggerty, and his son were quite well-developed and believable. Haggerty and Weiss also have some great dialog on their trip back to civilization. Roberta Weiss looks great too, and that doesn't hurt.You won't be able to find this one DVD yet, your only hope is to catch on TV one night, or find a used copy of the VHS.
eljer7
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It turned out to be better than I expected. It comes across like a Lifetime movie (which is why my wife liked it). Those who rent this movie hoping for your typical exploitation "crazy mountain-man kidnaps innocent girl" movie will be disappointed. There is no nudity, a little adult language, and some mild violence.What I liked about this movie is that it was better than it had to be. The "villain" actually had some depth to his character, as did the character played by Dan Hagerty. The acting by the female lead could have been better, but isn't so awful that it makes the film unwatchable. The scenes between the female and Dan Hagerty are nice and sometimes rather touching.I recommend this movie for rising above its genre. Its nice these days to be pleased and suprised by a movie, rather than disappointed.
slnixon
This movie has a lot going for it. The plot is simple: a psychotic mountain man kidnaps a young woman while she is out on her morning jog. The problem is the director came up short. Most of the time, the movie tries to focus in on the intensity and insane look in the kidnapper's eyes. There are also a lot of chase scenes in the Canadian rockies. Not much else.There are some good points. Dan Haggerty plays the madman's father and does a good acting job, but I kept flashing back to his TV series "Grizzly Adams". I half-expected Ben the bear to come trotting out of the bushes at any time. Roberta Weiss at the start of the movie played the role of the damsel-in-distress rather lamely, however she did seem to improve once the madman's cabin had been reached.The problem is that this movie was not what you'd come to expect from this genre. The danger of sexual assault was there every time Vern got close. However, for a guy that had been out in the woods for two years without a woman, you'd think he could have gotten past the bra. Give this same script to David Cronenberg and you'd have a successful NC-17 movie and a better ending where the hunted becomes the hunter. As is, it is barely PG and not worth renting.When it comes on Showtime or TNT, take a look if you like Dan Haggerty, as long as nothing else is on.
