Editor does not follow on 'Yellowbrickroad'

The character shown in the “Yellowbrickroad” cover above is one that DeBruler just happens to dislike. Photo courtesy of Google ImagesBy Connor DeBruler
debrulerc@mytjnow.com

I recently watched a horror film based on “The Wizard of Oz.” No, it is not a cheap, pornographic parody nor does it have anything to do with “The Wizard of Gore,” an old 70’s exploitation film that has nothing to do with Dorothy’s magical journey into a vaguely capitalist parable. 

 “Yellowbrickroad” is an independent horror film about the small town of Friar, New Hampshire. In 1940, the entire town attended a screening of “The Wizard of Oz” and then hiked for several weeks up into the mountains and froze to death. We suddenly flash to the present when a group of rather well-known paranormal investigators and a college psychoanalyst decided to hike the trail to see what all the buzz is about with the intention of writing another bestseller. 

This task proves to be far too difficult after the investigators can’t get along. Strangely, the hardest parts of this film to watch are the ones where everyone is getting aggravated. The violence does intensify, but plot becomes so vague and perplexing that it’s hard to care about people’s legs so easily being ripped off by boyfriends who showed no previous murderous tendencies. There’s also a character who keeps saying he’s thinking about killing and never actually harms anyone. 

Eventually the group can’t seem to reach the top of mountain and most of them are slowly descending into an animalistic madness, while others decide to indulge in hallucinogenic berries. 

Hey, I’m all for psychedelics, but when I’m locked into a living nightmare where my work buddies are being savagely butchered and tied to posts and decorated to look like the scarecrow, I doubt I’d want to get high. 

The problem with this film is that it’s hard to put one’s finger on. There are so many good ideas and great scenes that utterly fail to converge into a satisfying whole. There are no plot revelations nor twists, which is okay for expressly artistic works, but this film relies so much on its spooky premise in the beginning it seems wrong to abandon it as the characterization as well as the story disintegrate like melted celluloid. 

It just doesn’t go anywhere. 

It’s like an four-star appetizer and then waiting for a meal until the restaurant closes and the waiters ask you to leave. 

I’m inclined the think that the directors Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton were aiming for some kind of emotional statement as a homage to directors like Lucio Fulcci and the playwrights Samuel Beckett and Antonin Artaud. But they just suck at it. 

The only familiar face is that of Cassidy Freeman who’s apparently on the show Smallville, which I never thought was that great at all. 

On a good note, the relatively unknown actress, Laura Heisler, who plays the creepy local accompanying them on the trip, really steels the show with some great scenes. 

Unfortunately, this film, which played around Charlotte with a few foreign films as a part of a horror festival, is not worth anyone’s time. It is hard to watch, weird and nothing is explained by the final scene, which is also the most ridiculous.