From my favorite movies..

Disappointment for a huge fan!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Five college students gather to spend the weekend at an isolated mountain retreat. Two are brothers; most are friends. Yet when they couple up, one will inevitably be left out, scorned not merely by the woman he loves but by his own brother. As he broods alone at midnight, will his suppressed rage engender a monster from the Id who will enact the fantasies of vengeance he wouldn't dare entertain in his conscious mind? Alas, no. But when he recounts an urban legend about a hunter who terrorizes the unsuspecting denizens of the local forest, we know that another sort of rampage can't be far behind.'The Ridge' provides a measure of entertainment value, though perhaps not in the way its creators intended. Its premise, performances, and production values inspire laughter more than terror. But it does feature solid pacing, and it effectively suggests what it can't graphically depict. In the end, only its technical limitations truly set it apart from its big-budget brethren. Hackneyed plots and amateurish acting are, after all, the lifeblood of horror cinema. So if viewers find too much fault with this hopefully-witting B movie, they ultimately have a problem with the genre, not 'The Ridge.'I admit that I watched this only because I am related to its leading man, Neal Bledsoe. He has since moved on to projects far more likely to burnish his reputation. But 'The Ridge' could rise again, as a re-released DVD prominently featuring his image in order to capitalize on his subsequent stardom. It happened with Naomi Watts's pre-fame thriller about a homicidal elevator, 'The Shaft.' When that happens, Neal will know he's truly made it.

Worse movie I've ever seen. The sound quality was poor, the script was even worse, and the acting was pathetic! Even the ending sucked pimentos! Obviously Neal Bledsoe has gotten much better, he couldn't have gotten any worse, that is for sure. Acting was way over the top when it came to fear ... totally over-exaggerated to the point that I couldn't watch the entire movie. I have far too much respect for my to put it through the torture of watching a film of this caliber! The sound reminded me of early soap operas ... empty. The scripting wasn't even worth calling this a B movie. All in all, walk away ... you'd get more entertainment by watching a dripping faucet.

Five friends gather together at a secluded vacation home in the remote mountains where they find themselves being terrorized by a legendary local figure known as the Ridge Runner (a genuinely frightening and impressively physical portrayal by Nathaniel Park). Okay, so the basic premise isn't anything new, but fortunately writer/director Brett Haley compensates for this dearth of originality by relating the engrossing story at a steady pace, ably building and sustaining a spooky atmosphere and a considerable amount of gut-wrenching suspense (the lengthy second half with the young adults being relentlessly stalked and picked off by the vicious maniac is truly tense, gripping, and harrowing), and making fine use of the remote woodland location in order to create a potently unsettling sense of isolation, vulnerability, and utter helplessness. Moreover, the jolting moments of sudden savage violence pack a pretty hard punch. The uniformly sound acting from the capable cast helps a lot: Neal Bledsoe as the cocky and aggressive Noah, Haley as the wimpy and bumbling Blake, Lydia Hyslop as the sweet Cara, Lauren Powell as the perky Anna, and Jesse Patch as the amiable Ethan. This movie deserves extra praise for the exceptionally well-drawn and believable main characters; the heated rivalry between brothers Noah and Blake in particular gives this picture extra dramatic substance. Eric Sheretz's sharp cinematography puts an energetic prowling camera to extremely effective and exciting use. Austin Donahue's rattling score likewise does the nerve-jangling trick. A real sleeper.

I wish I could say nice things about this movie but alas, the bad out weigh the good. The actors did a good job, They were convincing and worked well together on screen. My problem was with the story and editing. There were several bad cuts throughout the movie that distracted from the story and made me kind of angry considering the time they took to get decent angles and have a decent cast. The story was solid however, I would have liked the "Ridge Runner" to be built up a bit more, his hood was way too big and made him look comical rather than intimidating. There were a couple of decent scares and the dialogue wasn't so bad that I felt myself wanting to fast forward. I really wish the filmmakers took the time to get an editor who actually knew what they were doing.Note to Producers: Next time show some skin. Especially when you have a character take her bottoms off in a pool only to have her bottoms back on in bad editing. It is annoying and distracting from the story. I would have given you at least one more star if she was actually naked.