A Scottish horror film where stunning cinematography adequately compensates for a poor script and some questionable plot points, here’s our Mercy Falls review.
A group of friends set off into the Scottish Highlands in search of a long lost cabin. Once far from civilisation, an unforeseen tragedy befalls the group and one bad decision leads to suspicion, betrayal and murder.
For a low-budget horror Mercy Falls certainly has that cinematic gloss over it that instantly catapults its visual appeal far beyond that of your usual independent horror.
Throw in some good fight sequences and convincing gore and you have a watchable horror film, it’s just a shame that they’re the only shining lights in this otherwise run of the mill horror movie.
This hunt for a cabin in woods is very Blair Witch Project but it’s not anything new or even remotely different and as a group of friends encounter another hitchhiker to come with them, things start to go south very quickly.
Nicolette McKeown kind of plays this wilderness Lara Croft with an agenda and whilst she plays an incredible part it just comes out of nowhere with very little context or interest for us as an audience to invest in.
Nicolette’s character has recently escaped from a nearby mental institution and as a former soldier with PTSD she has a habit of, craving another kill.
Other characters within the movie are one-dimensional in every aspect we have the horny cast in the woods, a nerdy one, the obnoxious one, the cheater, the liar, the jock.
But whilst they’re stereotypically written they’re all portrayed well and are convincing in every scene that demands a change of emotion depending on the situation they find themselves in.
With a flimsy backstory the film looks more than good enough for you to keep watching without getting bored with the lush landscape and beautiful cinematic camera pans and technique.
The cinematography in Mercy Falls has to be applauded and hats off to everyone behind the camera for getting Mercy Falls up to a very high standard disguising its low budget.
Action sequences invest you as a viewer but sadly the story has already fell down a plot hole so deep that its hard to recover.
It’s watchable and that’s the main thing but this is a cinematography reel with no substance of note and the film seems to drag on far longer than it needs to but they still find enough time to cram in a sex scene when its absolutely not needed and doesn’t even fit the story you’re watching.
A beautiful watch from start to finish but sadly Mercy Falls is a wee bit boring.
Mercy Falls review by Sean Evans
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Our Rating
Summary
Beautifully shot and well acted but with a hollow storyline and not much for the viewer to invest in this film sadly becomes one very impressive cinematic reel
