YELLOWBRICKROAD (2010) Blu-ray Review

YellowBrickRoad (2010) d. Jesse Holland / Andy Mitton (USA) (98 min)

“One morning in 1940, the entire population of Friar, New NH, walked north up an unmarked trail into the wilderness. Some were later found frozen to death. Others were mysteriously slaughtered. Most, however, were never found. Among the classified records is [an] audio recording of a lone survivor, conducted at the outset of investigation.” So reads the pre-titles onscreen text, after which it is revealed that in 2008, the coordinates for the “YELLOWBRICKROAD” trailhead have been declassified and investigative photojournalist Teddy Barnes (Michael Laurino) is eager to explore the legend of Friar. He assembles a team comprised of his wife Melissa (Anessa Ramsey), the brother/sister mapmaking team of Erin and Daryl Luger (Clark and Cassidy Freeman), the Luger’s intrepid intern Jill (Tara Giordano), forestry service rep Cy (Sam Elmore), and behavioral psychologist Walter Myrick (Alex Draper), with a last-minute addition in the form of Friar local Liv (Laura Heisler), and into the woods they go.

THE WITCH (2015) Blu-ray Review

The Witch (2015) d. Robert Eggers (USA) (92 min)

In 1630s New England, the pious William (Ralph Ineson) is banished from the Puritan homestead, along with his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) and their five children, for speaking against the church elders for their fixation on wealth and status. He scorns their golden candlesticks and religious trappings, preferring to make his way in the wilderness alone with his family, closer to the land, closer to God. But when their infant child Samuel is spirited away into the woods whilst under the care of eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), it sets in motion a crumbling of the familial unit, a dissolution spurred by suspicion, hunger, lust, jealousy… and perhaps a little help from beyond the veil.