Runtime: 99 minutes
Directed by: Peter Carter
Starring: Hal Holbrook, Lawrence Dane, Robin Gammell, Ken James, Gary Reineke
From: Astral Bellevue Pathe
What a grim slice of Canuxploitation this was.
I've seen plenty of movies from Canada through the years; as this is on Shudder and it's a film I've heard a decent amount of buzz on, it was worth a viewing. Hal Halbrook as the lead also intrigued. The first act was rather amusing to me-the opening scene had the 5 protagonists (all doctors) discuss possibly open a specialized clinic... the punchline is that the clinic is for PENIS ENLARGEMENT SURGERY. From there is a hilarious airplane pilot we unfortunately see for only a few minutes and at the remote Northern Ontario woods that the quintet are at for a week of fishing, one of them brought alone a blowup doll!
What a turn it takes once the boots of all five are stolen one night. From there, the person or persons involved systematically trolls the group by F'ing with them and resulting in the group dynamic breaking down. There's plenty of yelling from everyone but it's understandable when they are picked off one by one in such a remote area and it was shown in the first act that there was conflict in the group even before things turn sour. Admittedly, there was a slow stretch or two for me and mix in how bleak this gets... thankfully this was still a fascinating watch seeing how each member of the group reacts psychologically to this trauma.
The cast as a whole was fine although unsurprisingly it was Holbrook that stood out the most as the lead. Naturally, the natural beauty of Northern Ontario was lovely to look at. Comparisons to such movies as Deliverance and Just Before Dawn are expected, although this is certainly different from both. This quintet is put through the wringer so it's not light viewing-yet there's no regrets for me as this wasn't so oppressively dour or miserable that it was as grueling a journey for the viewer as it was for the characters.
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