★ 4 / 10
**_A centuries-old feud is going on in the
Wuchak
**_A centuries-old feud is going on in the Pine Barrens, along with… the Jersey Devil_** A year after a teen (Madison Ekstrand) goes missing deep in the wilds…
**_A centuries-old feud is going on in the Pine Barrens, along with… the Jersey Devil_**
A year after a teen (Madison Ekstrand) goes missing deep in the wilds of southern New Jersey, her cousin and beau, both journalistic college students (Sasha Anne and Evan Adams), hire a guide (Anthony Jensen) to search the area and find out the truth. The problem is, ongoing legends suggest that the notorious Jersey Devil dwells there.
“Reed’s Point” (2022) is a low-budget Indie about the malevolent cryptid, but thankfully had a little more money to work with compared to the $5000 of “Leeds Point” from 14 years earlier. The story here is more compelling than “Carny,” another Jersey Devil flick from 2009 featuring Lou Diamond Phillips, but the actors aren’t as good. The only other Jersey Devil flick I’ve seen is “Dark Haul” from 2014, which isn’t a conventional take on the topic and is great by comparison; very entertaining.
Leeds Point, New Jersey, is located a mere 13.2 miles north of Atlantic City and this is where the legend of the creature originated. So why is the movie called “Reed’s Point” and not “Leeds Point”? Because there’s already a micro-budget Indie by that name and, secondly, the events in this film take place deeper in the Pine Barrens where it’s wilderness as opposed to the unincorporated town of Leeds Point. Obviously, the producers wanted a name that brought to mind Leeds Point, hence “Reed’s Point.”
Redhead Madison Ekstrand is a highlight and the script is interesting enough, but the middle portion gets dull and the acting is only serviceable (although I’ve seen way worse). Where the flick really goes wrong is the padding of the runtime at the very end, which wasn’t necessary. They should’ve ended it after a certain revelation. Less is more. As it is, the closing scene in the cop car is just so illogical and eye-rolling it virtually ruins a decent spare change-budget creature feature.
The movie runs 1 hour, 17 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles with second unit work done in New Jersey.
GRADE: C/C-
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★ 4 / 10
It tries
Fortressofdoors
After reading the reviews here, curiosity got the better of me and I had to see it for myself. There is no doubt it' s supposed to be about the Jersey Devil…
After reading the reviews here, curiosity got the better of me and I had to see it for myself. There is no doubt it' s supposed to be about the Jersey Devil, as it's mentioned about 50 times in the opening. I'll call everyone by their movie name, because why does it even matter?
The first thing I noticed is when Alex shows Sarah his phone, the text message was supposed to be from a year prior, the last message he got from Kelsey, yet the messages both say sent and read, today 5:20 PM, so I knew what I was in for.
A bunch of stuff happens that doesn't matter and they go back to the site to find Kelsey a year later. The guide that shows up in seconds somehow and they go looking. I still haven't figured out how Alex got so tangled up in a tree stump from falling down a hill that he had to be cut out of it. Fast forward through some more stuff that doesn't matter and they end up at what seems to be the only house in the vicinity. Meanwhile, their boss (I guess) has no idea where they are, goes to the middle of nowhere to look for them in the middle of the night in the woods with a flashlight and meets her demise. Well, ok then. The guy who owns the house has Kelsey held hostage in the basement in a room that looks like Fort Knox. Sarah somehow magically opens the door. The guy who owns the house is pretending to be the Jersey Devil. Or is he? I don't know, they don't know either apparently. Kelsey does a bad job of fake tripping and falling down from here on out.
So many people were getting knocked out, punched out, butted with the stock of a rifle or hit across the head that I'm surprised the whole cast didn't have concussions. Everyone did an alright job as far as acting goes, except for the two lead girls. Sarah was an absolute plank of wood...with a bad haircut to boot.
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29%
AUDIENCE
2.8/10
418
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1.5 stars.