The Yellow Brick Road (2010) - Personal Movie Review

The Yellow Brick Road- Film Review

The film the yellow brick road was produced in the year of 2010. It was directed by Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton. The genre of this film is crossed between a horror and a mystery. The yellow brick road is based about a group of researchers who after 70 years when an entire town left their homes and walked up a mountain and were never seen again discover the trail and attempt to track down the mystery which doomed the citizens of Friar.

 

 The first scene which impressed me the most from the film was when the first death took place. Erin is the first girl to be killed and represents the character stereotype of the female victim. Erin is stabbed by her brother Daryl who seems to be the first member of the group to lose his sanity. This scene uses body horror and shows the audience what is happening to the victim.
The second scene which impressed me during this film would have to be when Daryl is killed by Liv with again a phallic weapon. Liv is the last surviving girl but eventually takes an overdose and dies. This scene impressed me because it was a fast montage of shots which made the scene more interesting and exciting. A collision cutting was used in this scene to go from a slow montage of shots to a fast montage. 
 
By watching this film it gave me more of an insight of what techniques what are commonly used and what I could possibly use in my own movie trailer. The features I spotted in this movie from the genre checklist includes, blood and gore, this is shown when the first death has taken place. A creepy location is used in this film in the form of an overgrown forest and an abandoned cinema which we see at the end of the film. Parallel and contrapuntal music is used throughout the majority of this film. The contrapuntal music suggests that this is what makes the group loose there sanity, as it is played into the forest they are in. when the first murder has taken place there are a lot of close ups showing the audience the expressions and emotions which the characters are conveying. Canted angles are also used in this film to show a sense of confusion and in the characters cases insanity. The stereotype of the psycho killer in this film is portrayed by Daryl. The female screamy female victim in this film is portrayed by the character Liv. This film has an unhappy/ open ending which sees teddy being the last survivor of the group end up in the old abandoned cinema at the end of the trail, in the cinema he finds the ghostly townsfolk watch the souls who have died on the road, Teddy is stuck there watching the film and as the end credits begin we hear Teddy scream.

The aspects I would like to use in my own trailer which I saw in this film would include, a hand held camera because I like the way in which it makes the audience feel a part of the film. I would also consider using a couple of canted angles to create a sense of confusion. If I was going to make a psychological horror which I probably will, I will use less blood and gore and maybe use more restricted narration. I would also like to use a point of view shot to make the audience feel like they are a certain character. Although this film is classed as a horror I didn’t think it was that obvious in scenes, so when it comes to making my own horror trailer I need to consider adding more aspects to make it more like a horror. For example I think this film could have done with including some point of view shots, and a lot more close ups to make the audience feel slightly uncomfortable.

The most enjoyable moment in the film for me was when the first girl was killed. For me this was the most exciting part of the film because it used a fast montage of shots, creating excitement and suspense. We later see that Liv is turned into a scarecrow linking to the well-known film the wizard of Oz, where the yellow brick road originated from.