Runtime:
86 minutes
Release
Date: January 29, 2010
Rating:
R
Director:
Nick Cohen
I
hate starting out with, "a group of friends set off on a weekend
trip," but that's exactly how "The Reeds" begins.
Celebrating the engagement of two of their friends, Laura, Joe, Mel,
Nick, Helen, and Chris decide to rent a boat and spend some time
together. While driving to the rental shop, they nearly hit a
red-haired girl who runs out in front of their car. No one else
really seems to notice her, but she looks Laura directly in the eye
before running off into the wilderness.
As
soon as they reach the rental shop, they learn that their boat isn't
ready to go. They actually have to drive to the water and pick it up
there. Once they arrive, they discover a group of teenagers on the
boat. None of the teens speak to them, but after some rude comments
and gesturing, the teens do leave. Only Laura notices that the
red-haired girl from before is on the boat.
After
heading onto the water, they notice another boat carefully winding
its way through the reeds. Though Laura expresses some doubt, the
others decide that it would be a great idea to follow that boat. They
get so caught up in the idea that they don't even notice the large
sign, warning boaters of No Entry. Naturally, things get weird when
the sun sets. They start seeing the same teens running through the
reeds, the other boat disappears, and it seems like something wants
to kill every single person on board.
"The
Reeds" was a surprisingly good horror film. Released in 2010 as
part of the After Dark Horror Fest series, it came in the fourth year
of that series when it seemed like they were scrapping the bottom of
the barrel to find anything good. I've seen a handful of films from
that year, and this one comes out at top, or at the very least, it's
one of the best from that year.
The
only flaw with the film is that things tend to get a little weird
towards the end. There's one twist that seems pretty plausible, and
this is the twist that people will probably see coming. Then, there's
another twist that fits with the opening scenes of the film, but it's
still a little odd. As if that wasn't enough, there's a third twist
that comes seconds before the credits roll.
"The
Reeds" has some spooky elements that I really liked. Who
wouldn't freak out if they were on a boat in the middle of the night
and saw things moving in the grass right next to the boat? You might
convince yourself that it's just a rabbit, but what would you do when
you looked back and saw two human eyes staring back at you? Believe
it or not, that's actually a major scene in the film.
There
is also a fair amount of blood and gore in the film. One man gets a
piece of metal driven through his chest after the boat strikes
something in the water. The film doesn't pull any punches; it
literally shows the metal come through the boat and then through the
man's body. To top it off, his friends actually use a rusty old saw
that they find on the boat to cut the metal loose from his back and
move him to another spot. His screams of pain sound so realistic that
I actually winced once or twice.
Another
bloody and gory scene comes when the group jumps from the boat after
it catches on fire. When the fire spreads to some lantern fuel, it
causes a massive fire, which spreads across the water due to the
leaking fuel. One of the women discovers that her foot is caught
under the water, and she is so scared that she neglects to dive under
water like her friends, resulting in disgusting and dripping blood
and flesh oozing down her face.
"The
Reeds" got some pretty bad reviews when it first came out, but I
thought it was a solid flick. It's no longer available on Netflix,
but you can pick up copies of all the After Dark Horror Fest flicks
pretty cheap.
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