Loser forever Sometimes, in order to make a good horror movie, you just need to put the crew in the woods and let the flight of fantasy move in a given direction. A large budget, famous performers, impressive scenery and special effects are completely unnecessary for an unassuming but effective story that can catch the audience with a healthy intrigue, developing from the beginning of the story to the very end. However, not all ambitious directors are destined to repeat the success of the guys responsible for the creation of the cult Blair Witch. At one time, a modest, budgetless pseudo-documentary film managed to produce a real revolution in the genre of horror, subsequently forcing unknown filmmakers to go to the woods and shoot their own blood-colding stories in the hope of becoming famous for the whole world. Yet no one was able to replicate the success of Blair Witch. The directors tried to experiment with the methods of the filming process, swapped ghosts for monsters of flesh and blood, but the box office and creative success from time to time slipped out of their hands. Nevertheless, no one forbade enthusiasts to pick up cameras and for their own money to shoot in the forest whatever they want.
Armed with the desire to break into the world of cinema and, if possible, to make themselves known to the widest possible audience, two comrades, Adam Pitman and David Blair, hastily built an unassuming story about monsters hiding in the forest more often and tried to shoot a diligent horror with elements of a detective. Having enlisted the support of comrades who are ready to work on bare enthusiasm, Pitman and Blair managed to recreate a very worthy visual series, for which, first of all, it is necessary to praise the operator Michael Off, but on this, the merits of the tape entitled “Travis” end, and a prolonged torment begins, filled with the secondaryness of the narrative, the disgusting acting of Adam Pitman, who tried on himself the main role and unsightly attempts to dilute the tension with irony, which causes not so much a smile as disappointment from the inability of the creators to stop in time and convey the viable life of the filmmakers.
As for the specific story told to us by Adam Pitman and David Blair, it introduces us to a high school graduate named Travis (director Adam Pitman himself). Gathering with his friends a big noisy company in the mansion of his girlfriend’s parents, Travis expected to spend the night after graduation under a high degree of alcoholic beverages, supplemented by the hot embrace of his beloved girl, but the outcome of events was somewhat different. In view of the contradictions, the hero has to leave the party, after which the mansion is torn by the exhausting cries and cries of seven murdered graduates by unknown monsters who came from the night. Disheartened by such nightmarish news, Travis is ready to thank Providence for an unexpected rescue, and at the same time tries to leave the horrors of prom behind in order to continue living a full life. Some time after the tragedy, Travis is again going to relax and in the company of his best friend Nate (Nathaniel Peterson), goes straight to Canada, where the young people plan to relax without unnecessary restrictions. Along the way, the heroes, as is often the case, choose the road that leads the car off the central highway, which becomes the beginning of another bloody adventure that still overtakes poor Travis and tries to finish what began in the mansion almost a year ago.
Having built the introductory part of the film in the style of pseudo-documentary style, as if paying homage to “The Blair Witch”, the filmmakers quickly rebuild the story into a tape shot in a traditional artistic style, which does not go to Travis’ benefit. Pitman and Blair lost the opportunity to hide the shortcomings of the production of scenes and frames, acting and drama in general, after which the viewer can easily turn on a personal error counter, and look for frank and muted shortcomings in Travis, of which there are really many. Having neither the time nor the desire to tie up with the picture for a long time, the creators did not devote time to a detailed study of the narrative, which is why Travis is full of not only logical blunders, but also annoying film blunders that accompany the film to the final credits themselves. Such nuances could be forgiven if the story was fascinating and sustained in a single artistic and dramatic style. Instead, Pitman and Blair try to flirt with a tense thriller, youth comedy and David Fincher-style detective, but it is understandable that out of such disparate elements, aspiring filmmakers were unable to make a holistic picture. The main storyline associated with the mysterious monsters from the forest, is gradually supplemented by third-party theories and hypotheses. At some point, the creators even try to make a short excursion into the story in order to enhance the depth of the plot, but these attempts remain in their infancy, complementing the picture with a number of completely optional scenes that artificially tighten the timekeeping.
One of the main failures of “Travis” in addition to the promising, but frankly ruined plot and uncertain directing, is to call the game of Adam Pitman, for some reason, imagined a good performer. Refusing to take a back seat and play an insignificant supporting character incapable of harming the story, Pitman took the brunt. Calling his act a feat will not work even with a serious caveat, since our hero clearly counted on self-serving recognition, and instead received a portion of anger from the audience, whom he disappointed with his frankly parody game with the habits of Matthew Lillard, the performer of the role of Shaggy from the film adaptation of Scooby-Doo. Instead of adjusting the character of his character to certain realities of the plot, subtly feeling the mood of a particular scene, Adam Pitman invariably twists, believing that in this way he conveys the necessary emotions. Because of the frank clowning of the lead actor, the viewer cannot believe in the danger of the story and Travis inadvertently turns from a tense thriller with elements of ironic horror into an unnatural farce, annoying closer to the middle of viewing.
The situation is somewhat smoothed by the performers of the second echelon, who saw in the shooting of Travis an excellent opportunity to have fun, and at the same time get on the screen. Selected by chance or through personal acquaintance with the directors, the actors easily outplay Adam Pitman, completely without thinking about working on the role. An optional comedy in their performance seems quite natural and organic. Thus, Nathaniel Petersen and other heroes, who are obliged to play along with Travis, who got into a serious rework performed by Adam Pitman, steal his attention and fame, although initially everything was supposed to be accurate, and vice versa. Unhealthy ambitions of the author of the film led to the fact that he played too much, did not find a limit beyond which it was not worth going and presented the audience with an amusing but unbalanced spectacle with a lot of shortcomings. And those few advantages that still allow you to sit on the viewing of “Travis” to the end, are still unable to block frankly failed developments that cause sincere disappointment.
3 out of 10