Rogue River Review

Rogue River plays out like horror 101; it has all the right ingredients to cook up a fine treat: red herring, plot twist, some really nice camera work and creativity. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to turn the oven on.

The movie begins with Mara (TV nomad Michelle Page); a grieving twenty something who drives out to the beautiful wilderness of the sticks, to a secluded, memory laden spot by the river where she intends to scatter the ashes of her dearly departed Father.
It’s not long before Jon (played by genre veteran Bill Mosely) seemingly stumbles across our grief stricken young heroine, and offers a comforting shoulder of support.

With her new acquaintance; the friendly, neighbourhood hick by her side, Mara heads back to where she parked her car, only to find it has (shock horror) vanished without a trace. The cliché thickens when Jon offers the young lady a ride into town and, apparently having been raised a fool, Mara does indeed accept a ride from the stranger… and he doesn’t even have to offer her a bag of sweets!

With a barely plausible explanation at hand, Jon promptly detours the journey to his isolated home in the woods, inviting Mara inside to “say hello to the missus”.

Again, Mara skips out on (if)any common sense instilled by her parents and moseys on into Casa del Mosely. Though undoubtedly pleased to find that “the missus” does actually exist in the form of warm welcoming Lea (Lucinda Jenney), it’s not long before Mara probably wishes old Jon did live alone.

Now, the one thing that Rogue River has got going for itself is creativity. Shackled against the confines of a tired ‘what if’ scenario’, dwells a reasonably fresh series of imaginative events that blend mental and physical torture to a superior par amongst the many other straight to video titles dabbling with the captivity sub-genre. Yes, it’s fair to say that Mara’s captors aren’t the most original brand of crazy, nor are their ideals. But their methods of torture are more creative than most. This, and this alone, held my interest.

Director Jourdan McClure does an adequate job behind the camera. I admired his ironic presentation of the movie’s settings; the stark contrast of beauty and peace that the wilderness has to offer, along with the solitary unease and fear of the unknown.

Storming through with a runtime of 77 minutes, the plotting is well paced and each scene rolls smoothly from one disturbing, if not hollow, sequence to the next. For my fellow horror fanatics out there, I’m sure you’ll find Bill Mosely a treat as he casts terror into the heart of Rogue River’s protagonist, and in the process adding another title to his C.V (he’s like horror’s answer to Samuel L Jackson).

So, what’s the main problem with Rogue River? Well, Director Jourdan McClure must of forgot the pivotal importance a protagonist plays in horror. Michelle Page casually meanders from one scene to the next, lacking any sense of desire to broaden a character already so poorly developed. Basically, our heroine has the emotional depth of a puddle. Her performance is in fact so careless, it even provides a major plot hole in the third act. On the bright side (i’m clutching at straws here, people); if you’re familiar with TNT’s Southland, there’s an awesome little cameo from Michael Cudlitz, who fans will know and love as Officer John Cooper.

Should you find yourself sitting alone with time to kill, I’d advise Rogue River as a one time watch; if you’re down with having low expectations.

Released on January 20th, Rogue River is out now available on straight to DVD and video on demand platforms.

Ry’s rating: 2.5 out of 5