Director – Christopher Donaldson (Necessary Evil, The End)
Starring – Marika Sila (The Twilight Zone, Lucifer), Kris Loranger (Cut Bank, Winter Kill), and Lara Taillon (Corner Gas, Spiral)
Release Date – 2021
Rating – 2/5
Epic Pictures is a name that I often gravitate towards. Some of their releases have been really enjoyable with a few even becoming some of my favorite films in my collection. A few weeks ago I saw that MVD was releasing the 2021 horror thriller Ditched from director Christopher Donaldson. The trailer and plot looked a lot of fun so I reached out to my friends over at MVD who was handling the release and they were kind enough to send one over. Like always, I want to thank MVD and Epic Pictures for allowing Horror Society and myself the opportunity to check this out.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows an some paramedics, a patient that they were transporting, a few police officers, and a prisoner in their car who all awaken after a horrible accident. The remember being forced off the road but no one can remember what happened after the accident. Then things take a gruesome turn when they become hunted one by one by a group of ghillie wearing killers who have their own form of justice to serve. **Spoiler Alert**
I was really interested in Ditched. It looked like a wild dark thriller with plenty of fun horror moments and possibly some entertaining yet cliched tropes for genre fans. However, that was not the film at all. Instead, it was an amazing story that was poorly done. The lack of suspense and tension coupled with the unenthused dialogue created some seriously dull scenes for viewers.
The acting in this one is surprisingly well done. I liked the cast and the generic characters. The cast did a great job bringing these unoriginal characters to life. The story for this one has so much fucking potential but the lack of tension and characters with memorable personalities really makes it fall off the rails. I loved the idea behind the film and can’t help but wonder what it would have been like if the film focused more heavily on the ghillie clad justice seekers instead of the first responders like it does. If the film would have went all in on the horror instead of the dark thriller then it would be a much different experience. The fact that the characters are meant to be unlikable really makes the movie fall apart as well.
Finally, the film has some seriously gruesome gore and great deaths but the movie itself doesn’t fully utilize them. The practical effects are fantastic and the gore looks amazing but it’s kind of like adding top tier cheese and pepperoni to a shit pizza. Overall, Ditched wasn’t for me. Hell, I don’t know who it would be for. I loved the concept and the gore but the execution is all wrong. Skip it.
