Hey folks, Valkor here. And we're winding down on TOV's Top 15 films of horror as we move on to number 11.I'm not the world's biggest fan of films where the characters, deliberately put themselves in harm's way, yet I simply can't look away and you wanna see just how they're gonna get what's coming to them. That's how I feel about the next film, The Maze; if this film were a bit shorter, I would have loved it a whole lot more.
The maze puts five thirty something's Jordan (Shalaina Castle), Collin (Tye Nelson), Alison (Clare Niederpruem), Will (Kyle Paul), and Cole (Brandon Sean Pearson) into a corn maze after closing. As they begin the journey within, the group decides to play a game of tag. But little do they know, they are not alone and someone donned in a red hoodie starts picking them off one by way. Now it's a race just to get out of the maze with their lives intact.
And that's actually the first hour of this 90 minute trek. The last half hour is spent with the lone survivor at the police station confronting the killer. And the ending kinda makes up for it too. Kinda.
The Good:
What I enjoyed most about The Maze, is the setting and the mood. I mean a corn maze is pretty freaky, but a corn maze at night, I don't think I'd have the cajones to go in. The mood is very creepy, definitely gives you the chills. The gore isn't too heavy, I would have liked a bit more, but what was there was just enough. What I also enjoyed is the fact that the killer isn't some unstoppable force, which you're sorta led to believe at the very beginning. He does get stabbed and beat up – in other words, if it bleeds it dies. Finally, the ending, which was quite satisfying; I loved how it all came to a close and all the loose ends tied up nicely.
The Bad:
First the acting is super cheesy, and in the case of say Alison, kind of annoying. But that's more or less nitpicking. The film isn't very scary, mainly because the characters put themselves in the situation. I'm sure when they walked in the maze, they didn't expect to get killed, but I simply couldn't feel sorry for them. I know it's not real, it's just a movie, but come on – that shit is annoying.
The Ugly:
The beheading. Yea you don't see when it happens, but you get to see the aftermath.
The Maze won't be the scariest film on your shelf, hell for most it won't even make it past the checkout out counter. But as a rental, definitely check it out once, if you're in the mood for a heaping dose of cheese to go with your scary nights. Out of TOV 5 stars, I'm giving The Maze a score of 2.5.
