Mercy Falls

The storyline is the standard "escape from a killer in the woods," but with a better backstory than other similar movies, however, the characters make the most cliche, idiotic decisions, that at times, it almost seemed like they forgot they were running for their lives.

The acting wasn't as bad as some other reviews mentioned. The characters did feel real, but I still couldn't care about them due to them making the wrong decision every time a choice was to be made.

If you are looking for a standard slasher flick, I'd give it a chance, but if you want something of substance that will keep you guessing and surprise you now and again, I'd skip it.

Okay here we go.... We have all watched a movie that had us questioning the characters decisions. Like "Don't go in the basement" or grab the kitchen knife before you go investigate the strange noise. These characters make some of the stupidest decisions before they are picked off. Never split up always arm up. Also when being chased / slaughtered by a psychopath never never never stop to have sex... I mean really what were you thinking? The story and stupidity of the characters make this waste of time ridiculous. The actors do what they can. The scenery and locations are nice and that drone shot over an endless sea of forest fantastic ( though used in every movie since The Shining). If you want to sit with friends and riff on a movie this would qualify.

Every cliche you can imagine is present in this tired, derivative waste of time. There isn't much to recommend in this uninspired low budget pablum.

The story isn't terrible but you've seen it all countless times before.

The acting is amateurish in the extreme. You can't present something to an audience with this poor level of acting and expect to be taken seriously. If you are trying to create tension or chills you need better actors. There are no two ways about it.

The film isn't exciting, scary or suspenseful. It is a cheap not very cheerful filler.

In all conscience I can't recommend this.

Anyone remember the BBC "Merlin" series with Colin Morgan? Well, this is really just like an updated version of one of his adventures, only without the costumes, charm or dragons! We start with some lovely drone footage of the treetops before being introduced to "Rhona" (Lauren Lyle) who has assembled four of her friends to hike twenty-odd miles into the wilderness to find a remote cabin that she has inherited from her long-time estranged father. They haven't a clue, but luckily "Carla" (Nicolette McKeown - who reminded me a lot of Rebecca Ferguson) is on hand and she offers to guide them on their quest. It turns out, though, that "Carla" has quite a psychologically malevolent streak and that "Rhona" and her mates are all rather fickle, shallow types - except, perhaps, "Scott" (James Watterson). What now ensues gets gradually more silly as we discover there is precious little that's likeable about any of these people before a denouement that says very little about the standard of high-end British military training. The audio work is effective, but the rest of this is unremarkable fayre that will keep until it's on the television around Halloween.

Normally, this wouldn't be the type of film genre I would be interested in seeing and yet in spite of the familiar tropes often found in these horror/suspense movies (including this one), I found Mercy Falls surprisingly engaging. Though I found much of the dialogue to feel very "written", with those certain brands of cadences that you only find in movies such as this and not reflective in how people talk in real life. I also felt that the swearing came across as forced and unnatural at times and as often found in these types of low-budget affairs, I could have done without the obligatory pointless sex scenes. In spite of all this, I found the general premise of escaping from a killer and overcoming said obstacles to be fairly engaging. I also found the establishing shots to be surprisingly well put together for a low-budget film of this calibre. There were times were it felt like to movie was trying put across moments of symbolism, without really giving much thought into what the filmmakers intended, Though most of the performances of the principal cast were at best serviceable, I found the best performance came from Nicolette McKeown, who provided some great moments of drive and intensity in the role of Carla. I hope to see more of McKeown's work in future screen roles to come. So overall, if this is the sort of genre that would interest you and in spite of its budgetary, story and character limitations, I would recommend checking out Mercy Falls. Mostly on the strength of Nicolette McKeown's performance as the antagonist and some well produced establishing shots and moments of atmosphere. Otherwise, I would say either rent this or wait until comes out on a streaming service.