188. Shortcut; movie review

 

 

SHORTCUT

Cert 15

80 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, bloody images, threat

Pre-publicity could lure fans of the Goonies to watch Shortcut, believing they are in for an exciting search for treasure with some ghosts chucked in.

Unfortunately, Alessio Liguori's film delivers on neither count and its acting reminded me of a hackneyed CBeebies drama.

Shortcut's audience is difficult to fathom because there are scenes which could well prompt younger children to have nightmares.

Conversely, I wouldn't have thought it is anywhere near spiky enough to impress anyone over the age of 13.

Shortcut focuses on five British teenagers on a bus which is being driven through forests in Italy.

I might have missed it but it isn't clear why such a small group is together or where they are going - but then this isn't a film which is big on character exploration.

Anyway, their driver (Terence Anderson) decides to take a diversion through a tunnel when a fallen tree blocks their path.

This turns out to be a fatally bad decision because they are boarded by an escaped prisoner (David Keyes) with a reputation for eating tongues before a monster emerges from the dark.

My biggest beef with Shortcut is the weak reaction of the five teenagers to the type of adversity that would give most people heart attacks or at least prompt them to soil themselves.

They face off with the highly dangerous criminal and flesh-eating monster as if they were as common as bigger kids pinching their ball in a school playground.

The quintet is a cliched bunch - there is the rough kid (Zak Sutcliffe) who is aggressive towards everyone but inevitably mellows, the obese boy (Zander Emlano) who talks a lot, the geeky girl (Molly Dew) with a high IQ and the cool-headed pair (Jack Kane and Sophie Jane Oliver) for whom romance is in early bloom.

The addition of a bus and an occasional stab at comedy brings distant echoes of the 70s TV series The Double Deckers. Both also had bland scripts and rather stilted acting.

However, this is meant to be a horror, not a comedy and even has a 15-certificate to prove it and while it may be too scary for young children, it is not nearly well enough executed for older ones.

Reasons to watch:  Teenage horror

Reasons to avoid: Only tense if you have never seen a horror film before

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Retching

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 3.5/10

Did you know? Despite having a British cast, Shortcut is an Italian-German co-production with Play Entertainment Camaleo and Sternenberg Films, distributed in Italy by Minerva Pictures Group.

The final word. Jack Kane: "The Goonies is a massive thing that I loved as a kid. When I was younger I was very very scared of anything horror-related."

Share this post