Five women go on a hiking weekend that turns into a fight for survival. In many ways this film pulls parts from both The Descent and Eden Lake, two other recent British films that concentrate on vacations going wrong. Right from the off you realise this isn't going to be anywhere near the level of those superior films.
The five female lead characters are much of a muchness and no-one stands out. The quality of the acting from all five is very moderate at best and at times very poor. The fact that Tamer Hassan a very moderate actor at best, is at the higher end of the acting ability spectrum on show here tells you all you need to know.
By far the best and most natural acting on show comes from a cameo at the end from Shauna Macdonald. What a shame they couldn't have incorporated her into the script earlier but maybe budget wouldn't allow this.
The script is disappointing and the ridiculous scenario's that occur stretch any small amount of credibility created early on. I know it's a horror film and doesn't need to be realistic but the lazy set up really does let the film down.
For much of the film I was going to rate it much lower than a 6 however to be fair the last third of the film did pick up very well and hold the attention. In my view the fate of many films is sealed by the ending and this is where The Hike scored highly in my opinion. I really enjoyed the ending which wasn't a generic cop out and left me satisfied that I hadn't wasted my time watching the previous 90 minutes.
This is a low budget film and it shows in many places but it did in parts entertain me. I appreciate that many people will find it junk and in many ways they are right. However if you expect little and are willing to forgive flaws then there is enough here for the avid horror fan to enjoy.
The five female lead characters are much of a muchness and no-one stands out. The quality of the acting from all five is very moderate at best and at times very poor. The fact that Tamer Hassan a very moderate actor at best, is at the higher end of the acting ability spectrum on show here tells you all you need to know.
By far the best and most natural acting on show comes from a cameo at the end from Shauna Macdonald. What a shame they couldn't have incorporated her into the script earlier but maybe budget wouldn't allow this.
The script is disappointing and the ridiculous scenario's that occur stretch any small amount of credibility created early on. I know it's a horror film and doesn't need to be realistic but the lazy set up really does let the film down.
For much of the film I was going to rate it much lower than a 6 however to be fair the last third of the film did pick up very well and hold the attention. In my view the fate of many films is sealed by the ending and this is where The Hike scored highly in my opinion. I really enjoyed the ending which wasn't a generic cop out and left me satisfied that I hadn't wasted my time watching the previous 90 minutes.
This is a low budget film and it shows in many places but it did in parts entertain me. I appreciate that many people will find it junk and in many ways they are right. However if you expect little and are willing to forgive flaws then there is enough here for the avid horror fan to enjoy.