X
- 2016
- R
- The Orchard
- 1 h 29 m
- 2016
- R
- The Orchard
- 1 h 29 m
Summary Five interlocking tales of terror follow the fates of a group of weary travellers who confront their worst nightmares - and darkest secrets - over one long night on a desolate stretch of desert highway.
- 2016
- R
- The Orchard
- 1 h 29 m
- 2016
- R
- The Orchard
- 1 h 29 m
Southbound
58
6.0
Where to Watch
Summary Five interlocking tales of terror follow the fates of a group of weary travellers who confront their worst nightmares - and darkest secrets - over one long night on a desolate stretch of desert highway.
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
58
64% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
18% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
18% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
58
64% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
18% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
18% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Just when we think we’ve got it all figured out, Southbound serves up another deliciously bloody twist.
Tacking the weakest segments onto the end of the film may leave some viewers exiting the theater with a shrug, but the interesting bits are original enough to stick.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 50 User Ratings
6.0
44% Positive
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
40% Mixed
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
16% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 50 User Ratings
6.0
44% Positive
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
40% Mixed
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
16% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
This movie reminds me of why I LOVE indie horror flicks - especially anthologies with a thru-line. (And an excellent use of uroboros to boot!) It's creepy as hell, the score is amazing, and the special effects - for an indie flick or any flick for that matter - are truly impressive. Sure, you'd expect the make-up in a horror flick to be impressive, but the larger pieces and creatures are pretty amazing. Kudos to the makers. And the acting is top notch. They're rolling this **** out slowly, I'm told - check it out if you're into films like It Follows, You're Next, and A Horrible Way to Die. (And, of course, the stellar V/H/S series.)
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These are fragments more than complete stories, and the incompleteness is its own kind of creepiness.
A prime example of a horror omnibus film: even the weaker segments have something to recommend them.
This entertaining-enough quartet of loosely interwoven terror tales falls right into the middle ground of horror omnibuses, with no outright duds but no truly memorable (or scary) segments either.
Just as most of them can't outrun their pasts, neither can they escape familiar plot contrivances that try too hard and achieve too little.
The movie shifts gears with each section.... This hodgepodge encourages some variety in the world-building, but, to the littlest detail, it’s derivative — and, worse, not scary.
A great throwback to Horror Anthology, this low-budget indie film, scares, shocks and excites its audience with 5 cryptic tales, that intertwine as the story progress' over the films 90 minute run-time. Now the hard part about reviewing a film like Southbound is that it is essentially 5 mini movies to which i will take the long road in reviewing each individual tale
The Way Out: Essentially the hardest story to figure out out of all 5 stories, it is also the shortest, Dealing with two men trying to escape grim reaper like figures in a pick up truck in the middle of the desert. Without any backstory as to the two men's predicament there is a certain level of intrigue and urgency, created by the story which leaves you chipping at your nails and eager to see what comes next in both this story and the next segment
The Siren: is about as close as you will get to the cliche horror films of the late 2000's and early 2010's following a group of less than intelligent young people, driven into a situation that they brought themselves into. However in saying that it is a fun sequence to watch and unlike the prior sequence has a definite follow up within the next segment of the film which as least resolves one of the many, many questions created by this part of the film
The Accident; Is the Third and quite possibly the best sequence of the film, dealing with issues of morality and sanity. The accident is a true throwback to the days of horror and uncertainty as we find ourselves eager to find a happy ending for the protagonist, Lucas who has his emotional limits pushed to the max, when everything is not as it seems and everything begins to fall out of his favour
Jailbreak: Is the most underwhelming portion of the film, However in that being said it is hard to compete against the best part of the movie and still retain interest in what is left. Following Jacob who has been looking for his sister for the past thirteen years, there is a constant sense of tension and danger, as Jacob pushes further and further into where he doesn't belong, with severe consequences that await him
The Way In: Is essentially your basic home invasion film, staring Mom, Dad and the only child, Gem as they find themselves trapped by 3 men donning presidential masks who begin inflicting physical torment onto the family, for reasons made not so clear. Throughout the segment you find yourself rooting for the family but by the end of the sequence everything soon becomes abundantly clear
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The movie has the element of creative suspense right from the beginning, suggesting more than it reveals in the first 3 minutes. The interwoven nature of the stories is as fascinating as it is mind-numbing. For lovers of short-story collections, this movie is definitely a riveting flick.
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What's really the most fun about this film is how all the segments, while being original stories in their own right, are all tied together in some way so that everything that happens feels like it's all connected (there seem to be some theories out there about this, and while I picked up on some of it, I don't think any of it matters much in the grand scheme of things--it's just for good fun, nothing profound).
The first segment is also the last in a way, the so-called wraparound. It's directed by the group Radio Silence, who had one of the better segments in the original V/H/S but whose Devil's Due was a trainwreck. Unfortunately this segment is closer to the latter. There are some creatures seeking payment, "looking to collect" as one character puts it. These creatures inspire dread at first, but are quickly shown way too much and their CGI feel detracts overall. On the other end is a basic home invasion part that lasts way too long until the reveal of how it ties together.
The second segment, "Siren", is an interesting oddity until you realize it has nowhere to go and nothing to say. It sets you up with a subplot about grief and some genuine unease (and great chemistry between the leads) but then it just goes casually and boringly stupid. The best part about it is the transition to the next segment.
The third segment, "The Accident", is quite good and probably the best of the bunch. It's about a guy trying to save a woman's life after hitting her with his car. The only person he can "find", is the 911 operator on his phone. He goes through a creepy abandoned hospital and performs surgery all while listening to the laughing delight of more and more listeners on the other end of his phone. It's a weird one and transfixing.
The fourth segment, "Jailbreak", is also quite good. It's probably the trippiest of the bunch. It's about a guy who is trying to save his long missing sister from a parallel dimension he doesn't begin to understand--and that she doesn't want to leave. There isn't much else to this one, just unease and a brooding efficiency leading to a final scene you probably saw coming.
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The only thing this film gets right is the connective tissue that holds the anthology format together. The individual pieces themselves are not scary, do not create any real tension, do not feature much in the way of originality (which could be forgiven if any of them were executed more adeptly), and the most of the actors' performances were barely passable, even for a horror movie.
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Do not watch it. It's the worst movie ever made. Complete waste of time.
Unnecessary gore. Unexplained but childish horror themes.
Ideas stolen from many other great movies in an amateurish way.
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Production Company
Soapbox Films,
Willowbrook Regent Films
Release Date Feb 5, 2016
Duration 1 h 29 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline No matter which road you choose, it's all going south.
Awards
iHorror Awards
• 1 Nomination
