After a series of strange incidents, a teen and his friends decide to investigate the supposedly-haunted shortcut through the woods that is the base of an urban legend around town, and find that someone is intent on proving the legend true.
This was an enjoyable if slightly flawed effort that could've been even better. One of the better elements within this one is that it manages to be pretty creepy and suspenseful despite being pretty tame and soft. There's some really enjoyable and creepy moments in here which get this one going rather nicely, from the first time the kids wander through the house to the big confrontation in the woods where the darkness of the surrounding sand the two different encounters with the chained-up farmer makes for a couple of enjoyable entertaining scenes that work well without betraying the incredible tame feeling throughout this. Other big set-pieces include a second house-investigation sequence which features the spectacular sequence of the kids in the classroom which is illuminated only by their flashlights and shows row after row of mannequins set-up as if they're students and then stumbling upon all the writing on the wall which makes for a wholly impressive sequence, mixing together rather impressive suspense alongside the frantic action set-up which is highly enjoyable while keeping this one still quite kid-friendly. This is a rather big feature within the film here as none of these scenes and confrontations really highlights that issue and it's only upon reflection that it's really noticeable. This one does have a few small problems with it, the first being the really lame motivation for the killer. There's very little about it that would appear too logical and realistic as for why they would feel this way. That holds it down as well as the film's rather dull mid-section which doesn't offer much of anything interesting. This comes off as a lame teen-drama which isn't all too interesting and makes for a rather dull time as the family struggles and burgeoning romance aren't in the slightest bit exciting and really take away from the exploration of the easily as this tends to get glossed over easily. Lastly, while this one does manages to get in some good here with the tameness being quite nice, at times this one can be quite apparent of its roots and really highlight the tamer aspect especially in the beginning. It's all enough to bring this down slightly.
Rated PG-13: Violence, Mild Language and children-in-jeopardy.
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