‘This is a dead end’
Restricted Area is a 2019 American survival horror film about four friends fighting to survive when they encounter a backwoods cult.
Written and directed by Christopher M. Don (co-producer of Minutes to Midnight), the Gear Up productions movie stars Randy Wayne (Hellraiser: Judgment), Phillip Andre Botello, Shawn C. Phillips (in masses of movies), Robert Don, Paige Lindsay Betts, Emily Gardt, Ross Britz, and West Murphy.
The film features an original score from Michael Levinson, plus bands Agent 51 and The Megas.
Plot:
Four blue-collar friends, recently laid off from a steel mill, take one last camping trip into the wilderness. Unfortunately, the friends discover a backwoods cult with a cataclysmic agenda and must fight to survive…
Reviews:
“There are moments where you’d assume this is a comedy, like someone flailing their hands wildly at their guts during the beginning, but that tone doesn’t seem sure itself. It’s also nearly a two-hour movie, most of which is filler shots of nature or the characters walking from point A to point B. Over half an hour could have easily been taken out, so along with the distracting errors, I couldn’t recommend this.” Andrew Peters
“It’s completely incompetent in every aspect, with even what should be basic shots becoming incomprehensible in it what it’s trying to show. The editing’s a clusterfuck and the story is hackneyed and ridiculous, becoming something the WWE would laugh at really goddamn quick, and even more glaring is almost a full two hours running time…” Dustin Baker
“Restricted Area already has a zillion things going against the meek and humble feature albeit the aforesaid above from the mishandling of characters, but the bearings, picked from the litter of many categories, never comes into focal clarity and shimmy their way to eek by toward a rather enigmatic end.” It’s Bloggin Evil!
“Right from the first frames of the movie, you know exactly what kind of experience you’re going to get: non-actors mumbling and moving around a thoroughly ugly landscape to a one-man-band composer’s soundtrack. The movie looks dreadful, in an almost colorless digital pallet, and it moves at a snail’s pace for nearly two hours!” The Movie Elite
Release:
Restricted Area is available on Digital via ITN Distribution. The film was released on DVD by Mill Creek on February 4th, 2020.
Cast and characters:
Paige Lindsay Betts … Becky
Phillip Andre Botello … Harold
Ross Britz … Tom
Nicholes Cole … Sam
Christopher M. Don … Cody
Robert Don … Tyler
Danny Filaccio … Steve
Emily Gardt … Rose
Wilmer Hernandez … Haywire
Ryan James Hull … Frank
Dean Iida … Billy
Gus Moore … Atticus Smith
West Murphy … Axel
Evelyn Olivares … Mariana
Shawn C. Phillips … Paul
Randy Wayne … Tucker
Technical details:
112 minutes (!)
Trailer:
Full film free to watch online:
