The first part of this film told about a certain forest madman named Verne, who kidnapped the girl as a prey-bride, and he was chased by his father - an experienced hunter. Now the sequel is a similar plot with a small innovation. As it turned out, the villain survived (who would doubt?..), now tracking down the entire trinity of ladies who decided to arrange a tent rest, along the way his father returned to the local lands, which actually explains the prefix in the title of the painting “Reunion”, translated into Russian – “Reunion”.
Immediately speaking about the shortcomings of the production, the desire to highlight the main flaw. It is the misplaced over-frequent jumping between nested ideas from one to the other. Initially, we have perfect makings for a typical, conventionally called “forest” slasher or thriller, where there will be cut off from everyone and all the heroines, terrorized by a maniac dressed in animal skins. Only quickly the degree of spectator tension drops, acquiring a completely new round of events on the screen, where they fall captive to him, getting from a crazy simple forester, trivially reacting to the beautiful floor due to his hermit life. Next, two hostages run, setting up for the expected smart symbiosis of confrontation-survival from a forest savage who knows each bush like his five fingers, and trying to save the girlfriend of ordinary girls. But the author unpleasantly surprises, sculpting the improbable Rimbaud from the fragile heroine, using inept karate techniques and gymnastic pirouettes. Well, then – more so that every ten minutes the mood of the picture moved in a chaotic order from serious to stupid.
This chaos concerns not only the detachment from realism and poorly written characters, but also the layering of themes that are not reduced to logical clarity. For example, the very image of a madman, at first, presents him as a typical villain who kills the first ones, but after some time he claims to be a positive defender of the forest, struggling with poachers who are thirsty to take the lives of animals for trophies of hides and horns. A second later, he again with a maniac grin threatens to deal with innocent girls. Thus, the resulting thriller gives way to an echo of a clumsy ecological manifesto about protecting our younger brothers, showing them poor victims intended only in mural stuffed animals. And the director could not sit on two chairs, simplifying both directions. However, it is great to spoil the already primitivism of the presentation by the inability to be delicate. In one comedy thrash horror there is a funny dialogue:
- I'll show you that now.
- How?
- Flashback.
Here and then the author, as if remembering that without nudity his film and not a movie at all, took abruptly crammed the bed scene with a long, unmotivated flashback. And if the girl wants to attract the attention of a flying helicopter, then immediately throws off her sweater and runs top-less.
However, pointing out the mistakes, not forgetting about the too well-groomed appearance of a crazy hermit living in a cave, it is necessary to mention pleasant moments. Definitely succeeded the very specificity, which transported the viewer to the beautiful forest places of Canada. The operator isolates many interesting shots with wild animals from the background, limiting the “picture” with an indescribable entourage of nature pure from civilization with murmuring rivers, green trees, and high mountain steeples, where the action is constantly unfolding. Large panoramas are an additional decoration.
Speaking for myself, the viewing caused me special pleasant feelings due to the presence of Debbie Rochon in one of the main roles, whose participation brought her a good award in the form of a nomination for Best Actress of an Independent Film of 1994. Not to say that she showed the height of drama, but clearly conveyed the emotions of the character. In addition, there is a curious opportunity to look at her career to grab a tipping point when she has not yet moved into the favorable path of the Scream Queen of cinematic thrash.
As a result, the thriller is far from perfect, unbalanced on artistic freedom and clear authenticity, when the first prevails over the second. The purely adventure aspect itself is successful, where the viewer has a chance to virtually wind down nature in the cool Canadian forest, having rested from the hustle and bustle of the city, simultaneously observing an unpretentious action story about three tourists-maidens, two poachers-hunters and one mad forester.
5 out of 10
