Shortcut (D or 1/4 stars)
5 British teens face-off against a tunnel-dwelling monster in 'Shortcut' (directed by Alessio Liguori) is an Italian produced horror flick. It's a low-budget, ill-conceived & an overall silly effort that didn't do much for me outside of a few notable things. The teens include: intelligent, bespectacled Queenie (Molly Dew); chubby class clown Karl (Zander Emlano); unruly bad boy Reggie (Zak Sutcliffe); beautiful, artistic Bess (Sophie Jane Oliver); & leader Nolan (Jack Kane), who crushes on Bess. All 5 ride the fire-engine red school bus on a country outing from their international school near Rome; the bus is driven by kindly old Joseph (Terence Anderson).
Along a forest road, a fallen tree ahead forces Joseph to take a - ahem - shortcut, and, when he steps out of the bus to remove a dead deer from the road, an escaped serial killer known as "The Tongue Eater" (David Keyes) hijacks the bus. Later, en route to a military zone, the bus stalls-out in a long, creepy tunnel. And before long, a menacing, savage creature known as "The Night Wanderer" (Matteo de Gregori) attacks; killing the serial killer in the process. The teenagers observe that it is sensitive to light, so they make their escape into a labyrinthine maze of more underground tunnels. There, they discover the big secret {involving abductions} behind the terrifying creature. Now they just have to come up with a plan for their escape. Chaos ensues.
This monster tale simply isn't any good. Sure, I can see some people absorbing it as some kind of late-night, popcorn-munching, guilty pleasure horror movie with old-fashioned scares; and an allegory, to boot. But 'Shortcut' - filmed in Italy {like so many other low-budget horror classics} - has nothing in it that hasn't been used in 100s of horror flicks before. I suppose it's a good thing that the film is only 80 minutes long, because I couldn't take any more of it. 'Shortcut' also makes some shameful missteps. i.e., the old cliche of killing a Black character first; stereotypes involves overweight Karl {viewed as cowardly & always talking about food}.
I think the filmmakers wanted to make these characters be a spirited, Goonies-like bunch; where kids not expected to be friends are thrust into a survival situation. Now, aspects of this film somewhat impress: some unnerving moments; eerily-lit tunnels; interesting locales for mayhem to unfold; the practical monster is actually fairly scary; a pulsating electronic music score that recalls classics of the 1970/80s. But in the end, there's just not enough story or characterization to keep me interested. The dialogue is awful. The narrative felt repetitive & even mindless {even at 80 min.}. The whole thing was just too cheesy & lacking substance. It's too profane for kids, yet too juvenile for adults. And I was left feeling utterly indifferent by the whole thing.
Along a forest road, a fallen tree ahead forces Joseph to take a - ahem - shortcut, and, when he steps out of the bus to remove a dead deer from the road, an escaped serial killer known as "The Tongue Eater" (David Keyes) hijacks the bus. Later, en route to a military zone, the bus stalls-out in a long, creepy tunnel. And before long, a menacing, savage creature known as "The Night Wanderer" (Matteo de Gregori) attacks; killing the serial killer in the process. The teenagers observe that it is sensitive to light, so they make their escape into a labyrinthine maze of more underground tunnels. There, they discover the big secret {involving abductions} behind the terrifying creature. Now they just have to come up with a plan for their escape. Chaos ensues.
This monster tale simply isn't any good. Sure, I can see some people absorbing it as some kind of late-night, popcorn-munching, guilty pleasure horror movie with old-fashioned scares; and an allegory, to boot. But 'Shortcut' - filmed in Italy {like so many other low-budget horror classics} - has nothing in it that hasn't been used in 100s of horror flicks before. I suppose it's a good thing that the film is only 80 minutes long, because I couldn't take any more of it. 'Shortcut' also makes some shameful missteps. i.e., the old cliche of killing a Black character first; stereotypes involves overweight Karl {viewed as cowardly & always talking about food}.
I think the filmmakers wanted to make these characters be a spirited, Goonies-like bunch; where kids not expected to be friends are thrust into a survival situation. Now, aspects of this film somewhat impress: some unnerving moments; eerily-lit tunnels; interesting locales for mayhem to unfold; the practical monster is actually fairly scary; a pulsating electronic music score that recalls classics of the 1970/80s. But in the end, there's just not enough story or characterization to keep me interested. The dialogue is awful. The narrative felt repetitive & even mindless {even at 80 min.}. The whole thing was just too cheesy & lacking substance. It's too profane for kids, yet too juvenile for adults. And I was left feeling utterly indifferent by the whole thing.