How did I end up with this movie in my library? I was probably going through a list of torrents and this was on a "top" list or something because it doesn't seem like a film that I would ever seek out. It is listed as a thriller film but I would call it anything other than that.
It's nonsensical and odd in its execution and ultimately it is just so seriously bad that it took me 3 tries to get all the way through it.
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The film starts out like a bunch of other films with the same premise: A bunch of strangers end up somewhere and they don't know why they are there. At first they argue with one another and then slowly realize that they have to work together in order to get out of whatever situation they are in.
They are stuck in the middle of a cornfield and need to find their way out somehow.
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These people haven't done anything wrong to end up in this situation, all they know is that they were somewhere else and now they are here. They eventually find some tools along the way that are conveniently placed in their path somehow despite the fact that they are literally in a wide-open field and those items could be anywhere.
This is one aspect of this entire thing that I found extremely annoying. They keep finding all of these various maps and what not but at the end of the day they are literally in the middle of a field and there is absolutely nothing preventing them from just walking in one direction. It's not like there are any walls in the way or anything. Later on, they run into some traps and also some caves and this is where the movie gets particularly stupid. The encountering of the caves is near the end of the film but when they make it through said caves, which are a maze, they are back in the same corn-field.
They wander seemingly aimlessly and of course to fill up the time start petty squabbles with one another along the way. At some point someone finds something that is a clue and states "it's a puzzle!" and honestly I wish they had said "it's a maze" using the play on words with maize.
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They encounter various spooky mannequins in the fields and some of these guys have more clues on them. One of them somehow fires a dart out of its face and gives one of the guys some sort of demon infection or something... as if the film wasn't already bad enough. Even after being assaulted by these mannequins the group never seems to be leery of future ones. For me, I would just tear it to the ground if I saw another one or at the minimum avoid them entirely. But no, that is not what our heroes do. Instead, they make dumb decision after dumb decision including "splitting up to cover more ground" and also leaving tools behind despite the fact that there is no reason why they couldn't bring them all with them.
As you might expect, they end up needing these exact tools later but dammit! We left the knife behind!
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By the time the pack gets whittled down to just a few members I found myself cheering for the field and hoping that it would pick up the pace as far as killing off the rest of the members was concerned.
I like a good thriller where people are trapped and have to work together in order to get through a series of puzzles or face their own demise. This has been done in Saw, Escape Room, and many others where the concept worked. However, sticking a bunch of a people in a field where honestly the only thing they would have to do is walk in one direction and stick with it until they eventually find a road but yet they can't manage to do that, is just irksome.
I can't even classify this as "so bad it is good" because the film makers were clearly trying to be taken seriously despite massive flaws in their storytelling and even how it is that containing people in this environment for nefarious purposes is even possible. The motivations of the captors is never revealed and instead we are just left to accept that there's a bunch of idiots that can't figure out how to get out of a cornfield.
Should I watch it?
It's difficult to believe that Lionsgate is actually behind the production of this movie. It seems to me that someone along the line would have said "no, that's a stupid idea" and shelved the movie before they even started on making it.
There is no reason to watch this film and most professional reviewers haven't even bothered with it. Someone at rogerebert.com did so, and gave it 1 star out of 5. I don't know much about that site but I would imagine that you have to give something at least 1 star rather than 0. This film is frustratingly awful and I can't recommend it for anyone.
