Blood in the Snow Film Festival Review: BUCKOUT ROAD (2017)

BUCKOUT ROAD, by director Matthew Currie Holmes, centers around a college class project that turns terrifying when a group of friends realize the urban legends surrounding the infamous Buckout Road may be real.

The film, which is nicely shot, uses Canada as a backdrop for upstate New York. As I am a fan of the use of religion and religious archetypes in horror, this was definitely a film idea that I really liked; especially since the subject of man being governed by faith and his belief – or even disbelief – in both good and evil is explored.

With that said, I feel like the execution of that failed in a way. Perhaps the script was a bit convoluted as it seemed to drift between religion and the ideas of good vs. evil and ghost and demons as well as possession. Or perhaps it’s because the lead male, Aaron Powell (Evan Ross), wasn’t a strong enough or drawn out character. I found myself rooting for more of the evil entity and less for him. Or, maybe we just needed to see more of Danny Glover in this film!

From a technical standpoint the film was good: good visuals, good sound, good editing, good death scene and good effects. I just wanted a better fleshed out story with more character development. All in all this would make for a good Netflix film as I think it would end up doing well there.