Lone Gunslinger Pictures’ latest feature film, Big Cat Trail, is perfect for summer and it’s releasing soon. Using the elements and sprawling landscapes to his advantage, writer, director and producer Beau Yotty has once again completed a traditional horror story that feels like it exists in the universe that he’s creating. The BYU? Big Cat Trail follows three couples who embark on an overnight hike in the desert, only to find themselves fending off a primal creature with claws, paws and a taste for blood. Starring Beau Yotty, Lisa Barnes, Katrina Kelly, Jim Perry, Stew Jetson, Sophia Okonsky and Frank Haraksin, this film isn’t my favorite project from Mr. Yotty, but it’s still an easy inclusion in the higher tier bracket of independent films.
A simple man vs wild story is successfully effective here, proving once again that you don’t need jump scares and Hollywood CGI to walk away with something incredible. It’s man vs wild with the elements of the beautiful desert, man vs wild with the predator stalking them and man vs wild with humans’ natural instincts to turn on each other when things get rough. While Big Cat Trail was meant to be a horror story, a creature feature of sorts, in my opinion it follows more comfortably into the thriller and drama genres. It doesn’t help that all of the death scenes happen off screen, with nothing but blood splatters to demonstrate a character’s fate, and the twist ending (which was crazy, in a good way!) grounding the movie in an eerily realistic way.
However, I do have a few complaints here. In my opinion, it feels like Big Cat Trail struggled with production at the beginning of principal photography. The audio at the beginning has some issues and the lighting at night was almost non-existent, but these problems seemed to correct themselves by mid-way through the movie. Still, I feel like this was a step back from Beau Yotty’s previous adventures in film-making. Though it was nice to see him work with a bigger lead and supporting cast, who managed to turn in decent performances across the board, it was hard to overlook the errors even while enjoying my own hike through Big Cat Trail.
But, hey, Big Cat Trail has a flamethrower in it and the young man that refuses to die in my soul was like “hell yeah!” Creature features and old school horror stories that are about story more than gags are where my interests lie, so I thoroughly enjoyed this movie despite the fact that I was hoping for more. It showcases Beau Yotty’s continued style of film-making, plays beautifully into the summer atmosphere and sticks to its guns to become exactly what it wants to be. If you go into it expecting a slow-burn throw-back, I think you’ll enjoy it as well. Cunning, cruel and crazy, Big Cat Trail releases this summer exclusively from Lone Gunslinger Pictures.
Final Score: 7 out of 10.
WTF……no no no! Would recommend not to waste your time on this.
It was ok. I liked the scenery. I thought if was filmed in Arizona. I hike often so I like these kinds of movies.
Worst movie ever, n I’ve watched a lot of bad horror flicks, but this takes the number 1 spot for the worst. Couldn’t even finish it, n didn’t even want to.