YellowBrickRoad is being released on Blu-ray for the first time as a Special Edition Blu-ray by Lightyear Entertainment. Heres’ the lowdown:
“Ten years after its heralded release, on August 9, Lightyear Entertainment will unleash YellowBrickRoad for a new generation of horror fans. Meticulously remastered in 2K High Definition, the Updated Special Edition boasts more blood and bigger scares with enhanced visual effects. Available on all leading digital platforms and DVD, the special collector’s edition will also be available on extras-loaded Blu-ray for the very first time containing a treasure-trove of specially-created bonus features never before available including two behind-the-scenes featurettes, “Practical Blood FX on an Indie Budget” and “Walking the YellowBrickRoad”, new interviews with cast and crew and more!”
Special features:
New Behind-the-scenes featurettes: “Practical Blood FX on an Indie Budget”, “Walking the YellowBrickRoad”
New Cast and Crew Interviews: Director/Writers Andy Mitton & Jesse Holland
Actors/Executive producers Clark and Cassidy Freeman, Producer Eric Hungerford
Original Directors’ Commentary with Andy Mitton and Jesse Holland
Meanwhile, here’s our previous coverage of the movie:
‘This road has no fairy tale ending’
YellowBrickRoad aka Yellow Brick Road is a 2010 American horror feature film written and directed by Jesse Holland (The Crooked Man) and Andy Mitton (The Vermont House; We Go On; Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear). It has also been released as Vanished.
The movie stars Cassidy Freeman (Fender Bender; The Vampire Diaries), Anessa Ramsey (Death Race 2050; Southbound; Rites of Spring), Laura Heisler, Clark Freeman, Lee Wilkof, Alex Draper, Tara Giordano, Michael Laurino and Sam Elmore.
Plot:
A film crew has travelled to the town of Friar, New Hampshire, to finally travel a trail known only via the horrific stories that surround it. In 1940 the entire town of Friar, 572 people, abandoned their town and walked into the wilderness with only the clothes on their back after a viewing of The Wizard of Oz, a film that the entire town was obsessed with.
No-one has ever been able to explain why they did this, especially since only 300 of the townspeople’s bodies were recovered. Of those 300, some had frozen to death in the elements while others were killed in horrific and bloody ways.
When the trail’s coordinates are declassified, crew leader Teddy gains access to the coveted information via Friar’s cinema. His goal is to finally answer the questions surrounding the disappearances and deaths, as well as what lies at the end of the trail…
Reviews:
“The film’s cryptic, metaphoric ending will no doubt frustrate and confuse many viewers, and spark endless online debate. Even with this drawback, the movie is still quite engrossing, with some of the most unsettling scenes since The Exorcist and The Shining. It’s truly spooky.” Meet in the Lobby
“The constant sound and scratching of the needle against the record really has an effect on the nerves and makes the silences deafening. This is a little more on the cerebral side of horror with a few moments of disturbing images, made all the more disturbing by their abrupt nature, this is a film well worth the watch.” The Geek Girl Project
” … the camera shakes, and they begin attacking each other, like that Star Trek episode where the Enterprise crew is infected by a virus and they all go nuts. But at least that had a shirtless Sulu sword fighting. Yellowbrickroad is without personality. It’s competently made, but the cast and direction are just bland.” San Francisco Chronicle
“If they go back and make a better ending … I could see this being a cult favorite of sorts … The unknown actors are pretty good, the story is interesting, and it has minor doses of unexpected humor (their reactions to a broken GPS are pretty hilarious). And again, it has a guy tearing someone’s leg off. So, worth a look.” Horror Movie a Day
“YellowBrickRoad is a fresh original update of the backwoods horror film. It’s one that begs to be seen in a large theater, projected with terrific surround sound.” Brutal as Hell
“Underwhelming finish explains zilch, but good perfs, atmospherics and use of backwoods locations make Yellowbrickroad an intriguing cypher.” Variety
MOVIES and MANIA rating:
Riffed and review:
Trailer:
Cast and characters:
Cassidy Freeman … Erin Luger
Anessa Ramsey … Melissa Barnes
Laura Heisler … Liv McCann
Clark Freeman … Daryl Luger
Lee Wilkof … Clerk / Usher
Alex Draper … Walter Myrick
Tara Giordano … Jill
Michael Laurino … Teddy Barnes
Sam Elmore … Cy Banbridge
Filming locations:
Lancaster, New Hampshire
