Customer Reviews

The Shortcut

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Shortcut wasn't a hardcore horror flick but then again it was a PG-13 thriller .

I didn't mind that there wasn't gratuitous violence in it and I usually like a lot of gratuitous violence.

The actors are appealing and the characters interesting enough to keep your attention.It's more of a mystery and that lends to it's appeal.

They don't sugarcoat anything or have any less victims of violent deaths because it's PG-13 they just make you use your imagination more instead of showing you the actual kill in full effect.

There are a couple of twists that I saw coming but it was still a good story and cleverly done.

I think even a slasher fan "like myself" would enjoy this movie,I did.

There is a story within a story.The back story is the how the Shortcut came to be and as time goes by reveals one of the mysteries..

The premise is simple: A group of teens, on their way home from school, come across a rarely-used shortcut. Turns out it's rarely-used for a reason. An old man who's owned a farm there his whole life doesn't take kindly to visitors. And if you think you know what's coming next, you have no idea.

Unlike a lot of recent horror flicks, "The Shortcut" has no big special effect budgets or gratuitous violence. The movie's thrills are created by its creepiness and atmosphere; it builds suspense instead of raising the body count. I'd compare it more to "Halloween" or classic Hitchcock than "Saw" or "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." "The Shortcut" is subtle, smart, and, with its hot cast--including Katrina Bowden ("30 Rock") and heartthrob Drew Seeley ("Another Cinderella Story")--a great date movie.

I have 2 teen boys so it's pretty cool to have a movie that revolves mainly around the teens from their perspective, as well as their quest to make it through 'The Shortcut'.

The premise of the movie is a mom and her 2 sons have just moved to a new place. They've been there a few months. One's a teen in high school, the other's about in 6th or 7th grade. One day afterschool, the youngest is talking to 2 other kids after school and they ask him if he's taken the shortcut before. He tells them no and they dare him. So he accepts. As he's walking, he trips over a dead dog and comes across a mean old man with a rifle letting him know in so many words that he'll be next if he comes back.

The boy runs away obviously scared. He gets home and tells his older brother what happened. His older brother tells some of his friends about the incident. One day at school, the football jock asks the guy what's up with this stuff he heard that happened with his little brother. The kid tells him it's true and asks him why. The guy lets him know because his dogs been missing. That's what prompts the teens to explore the shortcut.

From there, you'll have to watch the movie for yourself. But it's got plenty of jumps, and a good movie for teens to really connect with as far as how they talk and the jokes made. It also has an ending that will blow you away. Defintely worth watching. I'm glad I bought it and added it to my collection instead of just renting. My kids and I really liked it. Great movie, great acting, great plot, great twists and turns, and an awesome ending!!

What's an older brother supposed to do when his younger brother is a psychopath? Bury the evidence and keep younger brother chained in the basement. However this is a veeeeery long chain and over the years children as well as small animals have gone missing along a shortcut through the woods. A recently widowed mother with her two sons have settled into a small town. The younger brother is dared by his classmates to take the shortcut through the woods where he finds a gutted dog and is spooked by a creepy looking man with a shovel who asks the kid, "do you like blood? The next time it will be yours". After tripping and falling into the dog's blood the boy makes it home and tells his older brother what happened.

The next day at school the older brother is telling a friend about what his younger brother saw walking the shortcut and is overheard by a jock who's dog has gone missing.

The creepy looking man is the older brother of the psycho chained in the basement and the rest of the movie involves some teens including the jock and the older brother and their friends snooping around the house of the creepy man. They find the chained younger brother in the celler and mistakenly think he's being held prisoner and try to help him.....then......

I found this movie by accident channel surfing and as it was just starting I began to watch it and got sucked-in. Admittedly this is a horror movie for the mid-teen audience as the gore is non-existent but it has a lot of tense moments and a surprise ending I didn't see coming although on reflection-there are clues.

Not a great movie but certainly not a waste of time.

There seems to be a shortage of horror films for the pre-teen audience out there. Those children who are of age where they can enjoy a good scary film but are not quite old enough to witness the bloody carnage that most employ. Unfortunately most are unwilling to sit through a black and white film, thus denying their chance to see such classics as the original FRANKENSTEIN or THE WOLF MAN. So they either are exposed to early to the gore or are left wanting. It looks like Adam Sandler's company wants to change that.

Having made his comedy hits under the banner of Happy Madison Productions, Sandler's company now turns to horror with Scary Madison Productions. Their first outing is a nice littler horror film called THE SHORTCUT.

As with most horror films, we are told from the start about a woods where no one trespasses for fear of coming across the old man who lives there. The shortcut might get you home quicker but only if you can get across without being stopped or worse. So of course the new kid will take the shortcut home on a dare.

Yes, he runs into some crazy looking person while walking down the path, finding what appears to be the remains of a dog that's been butchered. He gets away and makes it home to a big brother who scolds him for taking the path, hinting at something that happened in the past.

The school tough guy finds out about the youngster finding the dead dog and asks his brother to help him since his dog has gone missing and may be the one seen. That night, against the suggestions of steering clear, the pair go off to find the old man's house and to see if the dog (or what is left of him) is there.

What do friends do in a situation like this? Call the police? Ask for help? Of course not! They go right behind them to help if they can, never telling anyone else where they've gone.

What they find makes for an interesting amount of scares, but nothing too terrible for the average 11 year old to worry about. But the twist ending will be one that will have them second guessing anything they see in the future.

This film is not the best film ever made, nor one of the best horror films done. But it does offer a few scares, some decent effects (though most are off screen) and a great ending. Best of all it tosses in the most cliché of teen horror film ideas without making them seem cliché, a great way to prepare a new generation of horror fans before they get to the gore drenched items. It may not be a movie you want to add to your collection, but does make a decent rental.

I thought this movie would be okay but when I received it and finally got to watch it, it turned out to be a great movie. Held my attention all the way until the end. Good acting, and film quality was very good !!!!!!!!!! So for all you horror fans out there, you won't go wrong purchasing this one.

This was a little slow , interesting but not too scary. That is what I like.Scary, and makes you look around corners, and look at people a little differently.The Shortcut

This is a PG-13 Movie. So the level of Gore is minimal. But this doesn't mean it doesn't scare the hell out of you, many times in different ways. On the contrary, this actually results in an interesting situation for the film maker: Since they can't take the easy way most horror movie makers take nowadays and do just gore, gore, gore and zero substance, they're kind of forced to craft a good story and good tension scenes, to replace the scary factor of the gore they can't really show you, and ultimately this benefits the movie greatly. This movie is kind of a hybrid between thriller and slasher film, all in an entertaining package. It held my interest from beginning to end and had a couple of nice twists at the end. A solid offering from Scary Madison (Adam Sandler's venture as a producer into scary movies). It's not the best scary movie I've ever seen, but I had a great time watching it and it was way more entertaining that many gorier movies out there today. (And don't get me wrong: I LOVE GORE. But If I have to choose between gore and a well written, scripted, interesting movie, I choose the later any day of the week)

With The Shortcut you *believe* you know what's going to happen, that it's just another cliched teen horror movie, and while in some senses it is, it diverts from what you expect and prove itself by twisting itself around so that by the time the end comes...you never saw it coming. And I appreciate that in a movie.

A PG-13 horror movie that eschews gore and sex for low-key suspense. While sluggish at times, the movie offers teens who aren't so obnoxious we want them dead and the acting is above average. As for the twist ending, there are subtle clues early on that justify this ending which still took me by surprise. I liked this movie..a good break from all the "torture" flicks and unnecessary remakes.