Sendero

This film has the usual gore of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Saw and the Hostel movies. However, there was one scene which was very hard to stomach, and I'm usually good at not being repelled by gore. This was when she discovered her ex-boyfriend? with his torso completely ripped away, and he was actually still alive, so that you could see his open heart beating. I almost had to look away from that one. Since it seemed he was somehow attached by a hook or something to the back of a truck she was trying to escape in, it's unclear whether she was the one that pulled his skin away when she started the truck or whether he was already that way. I gave this movie a thumbs down on Netflix, not because of the gore, but because the movie didn't make a whole lot of sense, especially the older gentleman (although he was hardly a gentleman), and the ending. The gentleman asked if she knew that her family's lives would be in danger if she shot him, but the movie never explained why that was. And the ending was confusing. At first, I thought she shot the woman because she was traumatized and not thinking clearly and was impatient with her not driving off immediately, but then wondered if the woman's hesitancy to drive off was due to the fact that she was yet another member of this deranged family, and Ana just realized it. OR did the brother that she spared do it, and even killed her at the same time? It wasn't the old man (who had previously told her that she was dead & buried already, whatever that meant), because he was going into the house at that exact moment. At least that's what it seemed like. Then the movie just ended, with unanswered questions. I've tried to find some of the answers on reviews online, but I'm still confused. A lot of horror anthologies do this, don't make sense and leave unanswered questions, like Mexico Barbaro and Holidays. But this was a full length one. Although I admit I haven't seen every horror movie ever made, by any means. It did hold my interest though, and I kept thinking they would answer the questions, but the ending was unsatisfactory. And the ending can, often times, make or break a movie.

I'm reviewing this because no-one else has. The IMDb score is currently 3.6 which sounds horrendous – but it's not that bad. The acting is pretty decent and the sparse dialogue, seen as subtitles in my case, is fine. There's a rather dull opening few minutes which doesn't establish much we subsequently need to know or care about, but once the action starts it doesn't let up until the movie ends. Best of all, though this is fairly stock horror fodder, something about it feels slightly different and fresh – maybe just because it's Chilean. What's not so good? Well it is stock horror and there's no real story. A bunch of people run into some psychos and get brutalised – that's pretty well it. There is some kind of sub-plot going on, but I never really understood it, nor the ending come to that. If you like this type of horror, relying on nasty sadism with people trying to survive and escape, rather than jump-out scares or explicit gore and splatter (the special effects aren't great – it's quite low-budget) then you may find this quite entertaining. The worst thing is that bane of the horror genre – people keep doing stupid things for no reason. Example: some good guys get the drop on some bad guys and make them drop their guns. They then run away without taking the guns, leaving the bad guys to pick them up, kill more people and chase them with them. This kind of thing happens over and over but I guess horror-fans can't be too bothered by it as it's the same in most movies in the genre.

There is a lot to hate here, the Poor acting, the nonsensical motivation of the characters, the plot, etc. However, it does give off a whiff of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I think there is a film to be made here with better execution.

I found this pretty awful for the same reasons other reviewers have given, but primarily the nonsensical plot, slow pacing, and lack of engagement with the main characters. There were 3 things, however which kept me watching to the end. Firstly, the forlorn hope that there would be some explanation of what was going on. Secondly, the entertainingly bad subtitles which descends from clumsy translation (which is always perfectly forgiveable) to bad grammar and misspellings ('Swetty' for 'Sweetie', 'live' for 'leave'). And thirdly... well, have you ever wondered what Wednesday Addams would be like when she grew up? Carmen - the head of the psycho family - played by Arielli Gutiérrez, IS Wednesday Addams, but without the laughs. I think I fell in love with her a little bit! This is not a good movie by any means, but certainly not the worst. I'd suggest you don't go out of your way to watch it, but if you've got 90 minutes to fill and this is the best option you've got, accept it for what it is.

Chilean horror Sendero features plenty of brutality and graphic gore, but what it lacks is motivation for its sadistic characters: I can see what is happening, but I haven't got a clue WHY it's happening. A group of youngsters on a trip to a farm are abducted en route and tortured by a perverted inbred family, who are collecting victims for the mysterious Mr. Gustavo, whose intentions are never clear. The victims are beaten and killed, but to what end? Writer/director Lucio A. Rojas clearly has an explanation in mind for all of the depravity, violence and general weirdness, but he never lets the viewer in in the secret, which makes for very frustrating viewing (some parts are obviously there just for shock value, such as the */buggery scene, but other elements need fleshing out, especially Juan's involvement in the deviancy). While the film definitely delivers on the splatter, with hacked off fingers, hammer-smashed hands, severed limbs, and a face reduced to a pulp with a rock amongst the grisly treats on offer, on this occasion I felt like I needed just a bit more story to go with all of the gore. 4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for the bit where 'final girl' Ana (Andrea García-Huidobro) drives away unaware that her boyfriend Alfredo (Diego Casanueva) is chained to the back of the car.

I recommend you watch this film on 2xspeed. It's so infuriatingy slow, you won't miss a thing. Acting: Bad. Dialogue: Bad. Story: Completely pointless. It's so bad it's actually worth a watch.