Now available on DVD
Cast:
Drew Seeley as Derek
Katrina Bowden as Christy
Dave Franco as Mark
Shannon Woodward as Lisa
Directed by: Nicholaus Goossen
Review:
Back in June 2008, Adam Sandler’s production company Happy Madison announced that it was getting into the horror business with an offshoot called Scary Madison. Its first genre effort would be The Shortcut, directed by Grandma’s Boy helmer Nicholaus Goossen. After a long period of no updates, what initially had been planned as an R-rated theatrical release wound up as a PG-13 direct-to-DVD offering.
The end result is an odd little number that veers back and forth between a by-the-numbers teen horror flick and something eerier than you might expect. While far from a total success, The Shortcut is a decent rental that plays well on the small screen.
The prologue is set in 1945. Two Hartley High School students decide to take a shortcut through the woods. This leads to a spooky encounter with a slingshot-wielding kid. Flash forward to present day Hartley. Derek (Drew Seeley) is the new kid at school. His younger brother, acting on a dare, ends up crossing paths with a dead dog and a crazy old man on the same shortcut. When one of his fellow classmates suspects that the dog is his, Derek and his friends decide to investigate.
The Shortcut is at its weakest when it caters to younger viewers. There is plenty of high school melodrama thanks to Derek and his crush on Christy (Katrina Bowden), who is dating a football star. Plus, there are boo scares and pop culture references galore. Each aspect is irritating.
It doesn’t help that the titular shortcut isn’t even remotely threatening. At the very least it should be ominous and creepy. Instead, it is a typical, rather scenic path through the woods that starts and ends in a normal suburban neighborhood. One would be more tempted to take a leisurely stroll down this shortcut as opposed to running in the opposite direction.
Still, The Shortcut has enough going for it to offset its weaknesses. The cast is appealing, with Bowden and Woodward particularly easy on the eyes. Also, at about 80 minutes plus credits, it moves briskly and doesn’t allow the viewer an opportunity to get bored. Finally, the conclusion is pretty messed up and fun. The R-rated side shows itself in the last 10 or 15 minutes, taking the movie to some dark and nasty places only hinted at during the previous hour. A sledgehammer is especially well-utilized.
The nasty side that emerges near the end is clearly at odds with the teen elements that precede it. You can tell that a last minute decision was made to make it PG-13 and the two sides coexist uneasily.
Coming from a young director working in horror for the first time, it’s a respectable effort. Not great or all that memorable, to be sure, but easy enough to watch and better than the rating would suggest.
