ROADSIDE (2013)

We review alot of films here at Horror, Sci-fi & More sometimes they are big budget hits or blunders others they indie films that tend to be alot better than the big budget flicks or just as bad or even worse than the big budget failures that tend to fill up theaters of Ondemand services every month. This film Roadside though its budget was more likey very tiny and had limited time frame to be completed by the film is a throwback to what an Alfred Hitchcock film would be like and feel like.

 This film is written by Eric England whose responsible for the film Madison County and Contracted two very distinctive films but very jarring for the horror community. Roadside follows a young couple, Dan and Mindy Summers, whose life seems perfectly normal even with a child on the way on a road trip to one of their family members house for Christmas. But their once normal life is quickly turned into a nightmare when an unknown gunman makes them his game of choice as he traps them on the side of a road and holds Dan a hostage outside the car while keeping aim at Mindy whose trapped in the car against her own will. As the cold of winter begins to settle in and the gas seems to slowly begin to run out the couple must figure out a way to escape this situation or find out why this person is doing this to them and find a way to see if they're willing to let them go?

 Roadside is a very ideal movie for a man whose looking to keep the budget on his film small or just enough so he can pay the actors to be decent enough to carry his film.  England's vision here is contained to one location and uses only a few characters in each scene as a way to not oversaturate his film with useless or boring banter. This move makes this film a huge step from up from his last two films where they were cluttered with so much stuff that the main attraction of those films is lost and never found again until the very end of them. This film keeps the viewer locked onto his characters as they go through the phases of anger, denial and mistrust all while they are held hostage by someone that they cannot see. Even with an impressive score that adds mystery and the feeling of fear to the film it doesn't overshadow the dialogue between characters and again I say is impressive.

 As for acting its hard to believe that two actors who've never worked together on any other film could gel so well then this film is a good case point because actors Ace Marrero and Katie Stegeman pull off the young couple with such ease that it makes the viewer think that these two have known one another for years but fail to realize that this is the first time they have worked together. Ace's portrayal of Dan is believeable enough to make you hate him some what after you learn of a dirty secret he's been hiding from Mindy all while feeling sympathy for Katie's charm of bringing a future mother to life whose world is beginning to crumble from the truths being revealed  during their hostage situation.

Now Roadside will be released on April 14th of this year on DVD and VOD so you have a few weeks away until you can see this film but you can pre-order your copies now if you want to via your local movie providers or simply wait til the release date and pick it up at your local stores. Trust me when I say this movie doesn't disappoint and after this week here for us we've watched some bad movies and a few good ones I am happy to say that this is one of the few that are actually good and should be seen. Normally I compare a film to a film and yeah this film does reek in a way that its similar to a movie called "Phone Booth" but trust me this movie has that movie beaten. So trust me when I say that even if your traveling down that dark road late at night and if its still cold outside pray to god that your not about to become the next victim of a person's sick and twisted game. See you later.

         

reviewed by Bucky