Despite a few good things (technical work and passable performances), it’s best you make a hasty retreat from this bland horror offering – loudly or silently, it’s your choice. There are far better ways to spend an hour and a half.
Release Date: 2016
Directed By: Ace Jordan
Written By: Heather Smith
Taryn Stenberg
Starring:
Donny Boaz
Rebecca Summers
Eli Bildner
Devon Ogden
Trista Robinson
Silent Retreat is an indie horror film from Midnight Releasing. And while the name opens itself up to mockery -- especially when the film is not stellar -- there actually are some things here worth your time. And despite the presence of so many problems, Silent Retreat will not garner the kiss of death, i.e. the lowest-of-low scores.
Zacry (the handsome Bradley Cooper look-a-like Donny Boaz) and a group of his fellow employees are taken to a large, well-equipped and remote cabin home in the mountains – on the shores of a picturesque lake, for a long weekend of work and team building – disguised as relaxation. The caretaker is a little creepy and per the film’s brief prologue, the home has a dark history which somehow includes this weird old peeping tom.
The performances contain no award-worthy work, but the actors drum up enough emotion to properly convey their difficult situation -- and it thankfully never feels forced. That being said, there's not much in the way of stand-out work, aside from one.
As Lira, actress Devon Ogden has a true and effective display of emotion somewhere at the midpoint – but it doesn’t matter. The character’s a cold bitch (a hopeless cliché) and never really redeems herself. Despite these acting moments of greatness from Ogden, much like the rest of the characters, Lira is broadly drawn into a hopeless stereotype.
Trailer :
Again, there was far too much “convenience” in the film as a whole. So many actions would take place, which forced me to imagine the writers writing themselves into a corner – and thinking of the easiest (and therefore most illogical) way to separate the characters.
It’s a great location (for the cabin) but I had a hard time believing it used to be a private psychiatric hospital. The presence of the aforementioned basement – well, it seems pretty hard to swallow that anyone would have purchased a house with such a dank and clearly historied series of tunnels in the ground below their home – especially since at the end of one of those tunnels you’ll find what is obviously some sort of prison cell. Buyer red alert! There are attempts to quickly cover up these inconsistencies (“No wonder they got the place so cheap!”), but there are far too many problems in logic to properly let them pass unnoticed.
Some valiant tries at story surprise don’t have the fireworks the filmmakers probably desired – for it was something you will pick up on rather quickly.
And as horror viewers, we’ve become numb to idiotic character choices. But there are some ridiculous character actions in Silent Retreat, which simply cannot go unnoticed or unmentioned.
Of course there's the "missing Rita" scenario mentioned above, but there is also the discovery of newspaper clippings and cassette tapes by Meigan (Rebecca Summers) from therapy sessions some 20 years ago. It’s such a given in a film like this. But what just made me cringe was when she tried to offer that info to other characters – who couldn’t be bothered, as they were still on a desperate search for Rita. Meigan just kind of falls back with this important (and possibly life-saving) information. What? You stop these other members of your group (no matter what’s happening) and you sit their butts down and you make them listen. “We’ve got to get back to the search!” A moment later, when Zacry shows up – she tells him of her findings. “Did you tell Dale?”, he asks. She replies with a meek, “I tried.” And there’s that sorely lacking sense of urgency.
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