Drive Back

Now, while I had indeed never heard about this 2024 horror movie titled "Drive Back", I opted to watch it on account of it being a horror movie. Sure, I didn't know what I was getting into here, aside from whatever little information was shared by the movie's synopsis. So in a sense, I suppose, then writer Jon Sarro and director Cody Ashford had every opportunity to impress and entertain me.

Writer Jon Sarro put together a fair enough movie, at least for the most parts. However, I have to say that the movie sort stagnates into the final third part, and my interest in the narrative started to wane. There just simply wasn't all that much going on to keep me overly entertained. Perhaps I've just watched too many horror movies of a similar theme and thus found "Drive Back" to sort of be a bit vague.

I was actually not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, aside from actor Zack Gold, and that is indeed something that I enjoy whenever I sit down to watch a movie; seeing new and unfamiliar talents on the screen, without associating them with previously portrayed characters in other movies. The acting performances in "Drive Back" were good.

I found "Drive Back" to be a semi-suitable enough movie for a single viewing, though this was hardly a movie I would recommend. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Drive Back" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Wow, I am so pleasantly surprised at how competent this film is! I'm a huge fan of weird scenario films, people being taken or placed in some insane scenario and just having to navigate their way through it.

I noticed almost all the negative reviews are from people who were confused by it, or lacked the comprehension to understand what they were seeing, but it all makes sense by the end. Perhaps they didn't make it to the end, but I absolutely enjoyed watching the bizarre stuff happening to them, inexplicable at the time, but fully realized by the end of the movie.

My only complaint was that it felt predictable at times, but in a fun and familiar way. When the old man appeared for the first time, I told myself that I had a guess on who he was, and I was right. It would have been a very cool introductory movie for those into bizarre scenario films like YellowBrickRoad, or In The Tall Grass, or Triangle, but if you hated this film because it was confusing, those films will be a nightmare for you to navigate.

Lastly, I will say the shots are well done, the acting is all passable to good, and it's a competently made film, if not slightly predictable for veterans of the genre.

So what was the time loop for? For the couple to realize that the woman is (or rather) cheated on the man 'a long time ago' with cheap jump scares with the man in the mask and the 'stop talking' guy who wasn't scary at all and remember the hitchhiker how did he become good and helped them all of a sudden? These are issues that I had with this movie because it felt like a bland horror type thriller that just didn't land (even with the cheap jump scares) a time loop run of the mill movie that looked lost even in the year 2024 when it was made. And an arguing couple who were quite annoying trying to solve their issues even in the 'loop'. Overall if you get to watch this movie I tell you to watch once because it refused to pick up. Time doesn't really matter in here!! And this felt like a real drag. Whether it's hallucinations or just cheap jump scares this movie showed that and more but didn't save it from been bang on average.

Those that haven't seen YellowBrick Road, Dead End, In Fear or the recent lame ' Black Cab' may find more to enjoy than I did, this takes from them films ad nauseum that I was mentally ticking off the tropes this film brought up.

Any film that has a ' road to nowhere' set up with a family/couple bringing their own emotional baggage to these supernatural unknown powers goes through cliches-a creepy garage at the start, dark albeit lush forests, a ghostly person with a secret on the road, time bending, events of the past coming up to the future, secrets, deja vu, on and on.

The acting is okay.

I'm being generous with a 6 rating, I just thought the premise of the movie was interesting, and I already enjoy this genre, so I wanted to give it a shot. Drive Back was just good enough to keep me watching. I was entertained throughout and it had a few twists. The acting isn't too bad but a little cheesy at times, could just be the dialogue. I won't give any spoilers but the plot has lots of holes, you just have to suspend belief in some scenes, I had to do this a few times until the movie became a bit confusing and convoluted towards the end. I still thought the movie was good enough to sit through without it being too boring...