2 out of 5

Director: David Gregory

I was eager to watch this after a pretty good review from Bloody-Disgusting. …I was disappointed. This is basically a kids-gone-crazy movie, but the more fleshed out version includes a family on vacation getting stranded near an isolated town… which is hiding a secret!!! (The secret has something to do with killer kids.) I do admire this movie for making use of a seemingly smaller budget – the sets are creepy and the gore that’s there is effective – it’s just boring. I have no problem with a slow setup as long as it works toward something, but the beginning half of the film has a lot of “getting to know the family” narrative which is eye-rolling. I suppose you’re supposed to stick in there thanks to a brief bit at the beginning of the film which hints at dark things (this intro scene was a hint of things to come, though, as it was also underwhelming), but when it finally gets to the father wandering into crazy town… I don’t know. It’s like the movie wanted to rely on some cool costumes and creepy atmosphere for the scares. Kids are always scary, right? Apparently not. Interesting development of some horror movie tropes, but poor execution thanks to lack of awareness of the audience.