‘The Canyon’: Well-Directed Indie Delivers the Chills

The horror smash “Paranormal Activity” is scaring audiences silly without spilling so much as a spoonful of blood. “The Canyon,” in turn, delivers chills not with supernatural shocks but the very real dangers within the Grand Canyon. Who needs ghosts or goblins when Mother Nature starts acting up?

The new film, enjoying a brief theatrical release before jumping to DVD Nov. 17, doesn’t reinvent the wheel so much as spin said wheel as smoothly as possible for nearly two tense hours. Yuppie newlyweds Lori (Yvonne Strahovski) and Nick (Eion Bailey) want to see the Grand Canyon via mule, but they don’t have the permits necessary to make the trek.

Enter Henry (Will Patton), a grizzled local who promises he can secure two permits and guide them to some of the canyon’s lesser known sites. Nick can’t wait. He’s a city slicker at heart, and a rough and tumble trip through a tourist trap’s hidden side is an intoxicating challenge.

Henry knows the terrain, and has the scars to prove it, but even a savvy outdoors type can’t prepare for everything the canyon has to offer. Disaster soon strikes, leaving the newlyweds at the mercy of their surroundings. (more…)

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Tags: "The Canyon", 'Paranormal Activity', Eion Bailey, Richard Harrah, Steve Allrich
Posted Oct 26th 2009 at 3:10 pm in Reviews | 25307012 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/10/26/the-canyon-well-directed-indie-delivers-the-chills/%27The+Canyon%27%3A+Well-Directed+Indie+Delivers+the+Chills2009-10-26+22%3A10%3A13Christian+Toto

‘Paranormal Activity’ All too Normal

Humans like to think they know the difference between truth and fiction. But in the modern media age, even as we feel technology has made us more savvy than ever, there’s always a disquieting edge that makes us wonder what’s really the truth and where are we being manipulated. Is Fox News really “fair and balanced” just ‘cause they say so, for instance? Or is Obama really bringing “Hope” back to America just because his colorful posters say so? 

Back in 1999, a movie called “The Blair Witch Project” burst into the American pop culture consciousness from seemingly nowhere.  It appeared to be (and was marketed to viewers as) a raw documentary film about three student filmmakers and their tragic last days experiencing supernatural forces while lost in the wilderness, but in reality it was a fictional film made for under $30,000 by a team of indie filmmakers and actors and had caused a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival months before.  (more…)

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Tags: 'Paranormal Activity', Internet campaign, paramount, Spielberg, “The Blair Witch Project”
Posted Oct 19th 2009 at 10:22 am in Film, Reviews | 24581066 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ckozlowski/2009/10/19/paranormal-activity-all-too-normal/%27Paranormal+Activity%27+All+too+Normal2009-10-19+17%3A22%3A53Carl+Kozlowski