The Shortcut (2009)

Director:

Nicholaus Goossen

Writers (WGA):

Dan Hannon (written by) &
Scott Sandler (written by)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Two brothers come upon a rarely used shortcut in their new town |

Cast

Andrew Seeley	...	Derek (as Drew Seeley)
Shannon Woodward	...	Lisa
Dave Franco	...	Mark
Katrina Bowden	...	Christy
Raymond J. Barry	...	Old Man / Ivor (as Raymond Barry)
Kent Allen	...	Mr. Hartley
Wendy Anderson	...	Derek's Mom
Jeremy Bastian	...	Benjamin (1940s)
Cavan Cunningham	...	School Administrator
William B. Davis	...	Benjamin
Benjamin DeWalt	...	Benjamin (1950s)
Nicholas Elia	...	Tobey
Josh Emerson	...	Taylor
Jonelle Gunderson	...	Sally (1950s)
Shannon Jardine	...	Ms. Milan

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and terror, language, sexual material, thematic elements and brief teen drinking.

Runtime:

Germany:100 min (European Film Market)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Company:

Happy Madison Productions

Movie Connections:

References Super Mario Kart (1992) (VG)

Nothing Special Here..

What can I say? It's a B-slasher flick with a pretty good cast and a weak plot. Really, the movie starts out very very weak. I was afraid it was going Disney horror on me. The script is really cheesy in the parts and the scares are so ridiculously stupid, it's not even worth laughing about. But as the film progresses the mood starts to change and the characters become more and more developed and the suspense starts to build. I really loved the character development here. I especially loved Mark (Dave Franco) who is really a funny, cowardly guy. He has some really funny back and forths with Lisa (Shannon Woodward) who is also very well developed and fun to watch. So overall, I liked the acting and characters. The plot was super weak. I didn't understand why in the world some random teenagers would care that much about going to that man's house. There reasoning was they wanted to know if that man was killing dogs. Well if he was, why wouldn't they just call higher authority to go check it out? Nope, they had to be on the case themselves. Which I suppose I can't fault since our little bleeders need a creepy place to get slashed away anyways. The deaths are all pretty well done, even though none of them are creative or gory in any way. It's very bland so I wouldn't recommend this to gore hounds.

The finale, which comes a bit too soon, is very predictable but it's still a nice little twist for this low-budget slasher. Even if it is a bit outlandish and confusing.

Overall, The Shortcut has it's moments, but overall it's an average B-slasher. Nothing more.