Matrixston
Wow! Such a good movie.
ThiefHott
Too much of everything
Mabel Munoz
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
eddie052010
Here are a list of ingredients of which mixed together makes for an altogether disgusting stew of a bad thriller movie.Here goes:1. Have unremarkable performances from your leads to disengage you from the narrative and therefore not create tension.2. Have those same characters occupy boring archetypes (like a struggling couple as in this film) of which leads to recycled plotlines, making the film feel redundant.3. Have these characters occupy a unique story, sucking all the life and fun out of it, making it feel all the more unoriginal.4. Have said characters make stupid decisions (like about using their phones) to elongate the plot as opposed to creating an exciting story or characters.5. Create false tension through numerous regurgitated storylines and plot threads instead of writing strong enough characters or a strong enough story to carry it and create actual tension alone.6. Have contrived scenes (including some related to the wife character being pregnant) to again create false tension and make us feel empathy of which the film has not earned towards these characters, given how uninteresting and unlikable they have been up to this point.7. Have the bad guy act moronically, including a scene whereby he flees the area, even though he has a couple HELD HOSTAGE of who could flee once he did that. Have the main characters not jump at this opportunity either.8. Have an out of nowhere scene to trick you into thinking that the person on screen is the bad guy when it isn't, to develop a mystery that has previously been woefully underdone.9. Have the end scene have a twist so out of place all the while so predictable, as the mystery of the villain hasn't been developed at all up until this point.10. Don't end your film. Leave it on a cliffhanger of which will be mistaken for ambiguity and intrigue by imbeciles, but is clearly the writer giving up because he has run out of money or doesn't know how to end his film. In other words, that is this movie in a nutshell. Avoid it at all costs.
Leofwine_draca
ROADSIDE is a cheapjack horror/thriller combo about a couple who go out driving one night and end up being stranded in their car by a sniper lurking in the woods. It's a low budget suspense movie that clearly wants to be the next PHONE BOOTH, but the single location set-up of the thing is all it has going for it.Instead this is a boring film filled with unlikeable characters and overwrought acting. Nothing much happens for long stretches and attempts at suspense fall flat over and over again. It doesn't help that you don't give a fig for the characters supposedly in peril while the villain of the piece is equally dull and yawnsome. Lots of shooting-in-the-dark cinematography follows, leaving viewers to squint their eyes and wonder why they're still watching until the final, predictable scene unfolds.
B.g. Thomas
First: Acting—some of it was good and some pretty bad. The husband was pretty good, the wife? I've seen better high school actors. The Bad Guy was believable before we knew he was a bad guy, then he got cheesy and I winced at his evil laugh. The cop was adequate. Second: Production values were surprisingly good. Night filming is very difficult and this movie did it beautifully. Direction was pretty good as well.Now SPOILERS! The ending made no sense. It was like a Twilight Zone ending was added. There was no resolution. There was no explaining why the Bad Guy knew who Erin was. We kept thinking the bad guy must be Erin's angry husband. And why would the Bad Guy give the couple a flare gun??? It just didn't make sense. Coitus interruptus is what it was.But the WORST was that we were supposed to believe it was winter and days before Christmas and that the car might need chains on the tires, yet the trees were covered in green foliage! We never saw breath frosting from the character's mouths—nothing! And it would have been easily solved, at least the green leaves, by saying it was a freakishly early cold snap—We had a lot of snow the third weekend in October here in the Midwest. It totally detracted from the film for me and was a story element that just wasn't necessary. It would have been fine without the "cold" storyline.The thing is that I still saw lots of promise with this director and will be watching out for him in the future.
Dawn Stone (dawnferris)
****Not sure if this really contains a spoiler. I talk about the end, but I don't give it away. Just a bit about whether or not I liked the end. So if you don't want to know if it had a good, great, horrible or even alright ending, stop reading towards the end of this review.****I went into this with little expectation of liking it. Then I did like it. The dialogue between the husband and wife was entertaining, never forced or stilted nor boring. The writing was reasonably done as was the acting. Honestly the only character I disliked was the bad guy. Duh, right? I didn't dislike him because he was the bad guy I just didn't like the way his lines were delivered. Knowing what I know now(the ending) I wonder if this was done on purpose. I watched this really waiting for what I thought, no, knew to happen. But it didn't it keep on . Then it ended. Yep. It ended. All movies end you are thinking. Yeah, they do. But this one ended before I thought it would. It surprised me. That doesn't happen often. Did I like the end? I don't know. Maybe I'm just to used to "and they all lived happily ever after, The End." Maybe I just like more explanation. I don't know. I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it either. Sequel , anyone?