Cubussoli
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Wuchak
RELEASED IN 2005, "The Ridge" chronicles events when five college youths take a getaway to a luxurious vacation home on a scenic ridge and somehow incur the wrath of the legendary Ridge Runner, a murderous woodsman.This is a micro-budge film written and directed by Brett Haley, who also stars as the semi-pathetic Blake who's rejected by the woman he craves and disrespected by his brother (Neal Bledsoe) and another dude before going off to brood. Will his suppressed rage conjure up a beast from his Id that will give birth to the rash, murderous actions he could only daydream about with his conscious mind à la "Forbidden Planet"?I was wondering if that was how the film would pan out, but I'm not going to say.Anyway, "The Ridge" begins with all the hallmarks of spare change budget fare, like poor sound, hand-held cams, less-than-stellar acting and dull dialogue/drama. The entire first half of the movie (43 minutes) is like this, which will tempt some viewers to tune out, but that would be a mistake because everything kicks into gear at the halfway point and Hayley's talent is showcased from there out. Seriously, the change in quality is so great that "The Ridge" is almost like two movies. Drama obviously isn't Haley's forte, but suspense/horror definitely is. The quality score by Austin Donohue accentuates the suspense.Lydia Hyslop as Cara is a highlight; she's sweet & beautiful and (almost) worth the price of admission. Neal Bledsoe plays the main dude; I hear he went on to greater things.Someone compared "The Ridge" to the Friday the 13th movies and said that it was better than some of the sequels. While it's true that it's a taken from the Friday the 13th mold, it lacks the budget of any of those films and is therefore one-dimensional and amateurish by comparison (the first half, at least). It also lacks the humor of some of the sequels of that franchise. It's totally serious, particular once the killer is revealed. Speaking of which, I like the fact that the Ridge Runner is presented as a mysterious killing machine with zero attempt to explain his (or her) insane actions, except for the legends spoken about him, but only in hushed tones late at night when the fires burn low.THE FILM RUNS 87 minutes and was shot on a ridge somewhere in the East, likely Pennsylvania or New York (I don't know; I'm just guessing; there's no info about the shooting locations in the end credits or elsewhere, probably because they didn't pay for permits).GRADE: First half C- and second half A for a balanced grade of B-
DigitalRevenantX7
A group of friends arrive at a secluded mansion in the middle of the woods in order to unwind for the weekend. But when they arrive, they find the place trashed. After cleaning up, they settle down & tell stories about the Ridge Runner – a crazed survivalist who slaughtered his family before disappearing in the area some years ago. At first, the night goes along nicely but when they find the corpse of the house's caretaker in the pool, the Ridge Runner appears & begins slaughtering his way through the group.The Ridge is an ultra-low budget slasher film conceived as a copy of the Friday the 13th series, except without any hockey-masked killers roaming about, instead having a mysterious survivalist assaulting the cast.For the first 45 or so minutes, nothing happens. Writer-director Brett Haley, who plays the group's most anally-retentive member, writes poor dialogue & has no idea on how to carry the film along without resorting to dull writing. The dialogue that appears in the film seems forced & the background story about the Ridge Runner that they mention is not very interesting.But once the corpse in the pool is found, the film switches gears. Haley might not know how to write good dialogue, but he knows a thing or two about staging brute force shocks. Haley milks the surroundings for all the suspense that he can get – this film has more jumps in its final half-hour than the entirety of most of the Friday the 13th sequels. Not just that, but Haley also turns expectation on its head by featuring a rather unconventional final survivor. Despite its low budget The Ridge is a much more authentic slasher film experience than most of the Friday the 13th sequels.
Woodyanders
Five friends gather together at a secluded vacation home in the remote mountains where they find themselves being terrorized by a legendary local figure known as the Ridge Runner (a genuinely frightening and impressively physical portrayal by Nathaniel Park). Okay, so the basic premise isn't anything new, but fortunately writer/director Brett Haley compensates for this dearth of originality by relating the engrossing story at a steady pace, ably building and sustaining a spooky atmosphere and a considerable amount of gut-wrenching suspense (the lengthy second half with the young adults being relentlessly stalked and picked off by the vicious maniac is truly tense, gripping, and harrowing), and making fine use of the remote woodland location in order to create a potently unsettling sense of isolation, vulnerability, and utter helplessness. Moreover, the jolting moments of sudden savage violence pack a pretty hard punch. The uniformly sound acting from the capable cast helps a lot: Neal Bledsoe as the cocky and aggressive Noah, Haley as the wimpy and bumbling Blake, Lydia Hyslop as the sweet Cara, Lauren Powell as the perky Anna, and Jesse Patch as the amiable Ethan. This movie deserves extra praise for the exceptionally well-drawn and believable main characters; the heated rivalry between brothers Noah and Blake in particular gives this picture extra dramatic substance. Eric Sheretz's sharp cinematography puts an energetic prowling camera to extremely effective and exciting use. Austin Donahue's rattling score likewise does the nerve-jangling trick. A real sleeper.
Maxelle
Aside from that major continuity error, this film was mediocre but in a good way sometimes.We will start with some pros.Not every scene was constantly dark and there were a few cool shots here and there (A pool, a small hill at the beginning, just little cool shots). The gore was very well done and looked very realistic. It had a nice mythology going (Staying true to it on the first kill made it very pleasant that the filmmakers paid attention to themselves). Now the cons.The awful acting from nearly everyone; only the females being decent at best. The dialog was painful to listen to and the 'character development' was cheesy and bland. The kills were uninspired and bland and they all meshed together in a very unsatisfactory way. The actions of the characters were horrendous and they really could not have done anything better to make themselves better targets.Overall it was decent. I managed to jump twice, which I can usually anticipate quite well (Probably because I had earphones on, trying not to wake everyone up so it was a little awkward watching it on the television set with headphones).Overall I'd give The Ridge a 5/10. It's a forgettable flick that you can rent once and mildly enjoy by yourself or bring a bunch of friends serve them some 'beverages' and you'll have a blast making fun of it. Entertainment is entertainment either way it's entertaining. I'm Not good with profound statements so forgive me.
