Trauma isn’t easy, but it helps to have a friend. So a trip out to the would with five friends sounds perfect, doesn’t it? No cell service, no neighbors, just the sounds of nature and the swallowing darkness of the woods that seems to go on into eternity. I hope you can gather from my writing that horror movies has destroyed the romantic idea of a remote cabin in the woods being the answer to anyone’s problems. The 6th Friend is directed by Letia Clouston (The Engagement Clause,) who also co-wrote the film with I Spit On Your Grave: Deja Vu’s Jamie Bernadette, who also stars. The cast is rounded out by Dominique Swain (Face/Off, Lolita,) Jessica Morris (One Life To Live,) Chantelle Albers, Tania Nolan and Monique Rosario.
A brief synopsis: “Six best friends from college throw a private graduation party that goes terribly wrong when an uninvited guest arrives. Five years later, the girls gather once again and endure a night of far more horror and bloodshed.”
So of course as soon as you see the synopsis, you feel pretty confident that you know what you are in for. The vibe is incredibly reminiscent of slasher classics of the 80’s, and cult icons like The Evil Dead. A group of people are cutting themselves off from the world to go get killed by a psycho. It should sound familiar to even the most novice horror fan. But the fact that it is an entirely female-driven spectacle, both on-screen and off, gives it a whiff of a fresh body as opposed to a rotting corpse of plot cliché.
That is where the similarities tend to fall off, though. Unfortunately, I never get a fright from the film, but I do get plenty of suspense. I would call this film a thriller before a horror film, and a moderate one at that. For a well-steeped horror fan like myself, I needed a little more ingenuity for my buck, which is tough to do. The killer-in-the-woods concept has been done a hundred times, so finding a new angle for your kill or storyline can prove difficult. But despite the familiar set-up you are met with a decent amount of blood and gore.
The 6th Friend is now available on your favorite VOD platforms.
