A Lonely Place to Die (2011)

Having seen the more popular and might I say average to poor movies at the present time like Inbetweeners, Cowboys & Aliens & Final Destination 5 I wasn't planning to go to the cinema anytime soon. I just happened to catch a very short advert for ALPTD on the TV and checked it out on IMDb. Having a good review score we decided to go see it. To my surprise only one out of three cinemas was showing this movie and on arrival noticed the lack of people in the theatre (Three couples including us). I started to think that we had made a wrong choice. How wrong I was. The sheer scale of the opening scene was breath taking and really drew us in ready for the rest of the film. The pace of the film was perfect and the element of surprise was always there. There were 1 or 2 minor continuity errors but these were cleared up within the next few minutes. The level of violence was just right for a film like this not being glamorised or pornographied. I have to point out also that the child abuse issue is handled very well and the bar is set at what may be considered to be a 'comfortable movie level' (if there is such a thing), it could have been a lot worse but the director clearly has morals and making it quite clear it is not that type of film although it could have quite easily been. The excitement runs consistently throughout and the music/sound effects add to the overall excitement. Although a few of the actors are slightly wooden this is quickly and cleverly counter acted/covered up by the good ones and fast passed action. Good story, cleverly layed out in a gorgeous but deadly setting. Who could ask for more.

Fmovies: With British horror now returning to the peak it previously reached so many years ago at the height of the Hammer Horror fame, it's slowly but surely become one of the freshest genres around. With such original titles as 'Severance', 'Eden Lake' and most notably 'The Descent' gracing our screens with their deeply chilling presence as of late, all eyes have been transfixed on Film4's Frightfest, Britain's leading horror-based film festival, for the latest slice of truly horrifying cinema. As this year's closing night film, 'A Lonely Place to Die' found itself walking in the footsteps of some true hidden gems, but could it live up to expectations?

As the brainchild of previously uncelebrated brothers Julian and Will Gilbey, 'A Lonely Place to Die' will most likely not register on many people's radars. The untraditional location and lack of star power will mean many shall overlook it's existence, but hidden behind the shoestring budget, the relatively unknown cast and the oddly basic sounding plot lies a deeply disturbing and involving thriller with little use of exhausted clichés and an unbelievably unpredictable narrative.

Despite a rather breezy but nail-biting opening, the Gilbey brothers hold off on the majority of the shocks until at least half-way in, allowing the basic emotional structure and tone of the picture to fully take hold first. A rather basic introduction is rather quickly washed over, the dialogue clunky but acceptable and the mood settling nicely. However, when the script does begin to take off and lives are lost in the blink of an eye, the film truly kicks it into overdrive. What the Gilbeys to do so well is to capture the shock of loss. The sickeningly fast pace of death and how quickly it can creep up on you. It is here where they truly reach their winning stride, a solid 30 minutes of the movie bang in the middle providing incredibly alarming and startling fresh thrills literally appearing as if out of no where. One second the mood is calm then a second later, another life lost. Doubtlessly marvellous.

Veteran-horror-chick Melissa George leads the pack of otherwise unnoticeable climbers, assassins and lost little girls, her performance both solid and believable but never once bordering on the outstanding. Her fellow cast members too tow the line ably but none particularly shine, their characters becoming nothing more than nicknames, but likable nicknames at that. It is more the presence of certain characters than the characters themselves that begin to command the scares, one powerfully-stomached assassin becoming almost an unstoppable force and a true sense of fear within the viewer's mind.

Following the rather intense and erratically unforeseeable events of the second act, the plot begins to flesh itself out a tad, unfortunately losing much of the suspense and fear that so dominated the previous section. Much more of the Gilbeys' obvious dialogue and sudden character appearances are thrown in in an attempt to fuel some rather strange and disconcerting explanations, forcing the thumping pace back down to a general saunter, sadly wrecking the previously unpredictable tone.

When the finale does eventually come however, it thankfully manages to mimic the truly demented tone of the second act at least partially, creating a nail-biting yet slightly foreseeable conclusion. Although it might not be the painfully dark and sinister climax many may hope for, it's certainly a fitting end to a surpri

I was lucky enough to be present at the world premiere of this film at Actionfest and listened in on a short Q&A with the director. Opening with some incredible, and real, footage of people climbing sheer rock faces, "A Lonely Place to Die" never lets up until the final credits roll. Unafraid to take the film in unexpected directions, director Gilbey had the audience gasping in surprise at multiple moments and I noticed a man in front of me leaning further and further forward as the story progressed. A great cast handled the nuanced script with real skill. The characters are presented with many layers and it's clear that they all have pasts and various human weaknesses but the film doesn't take the time to explain things out clearly. It is up to the audience to infer ( if they are interested ) in what might have happened in their pasts. This is genius scripting in what is essentially a simple action movie. There is depth if you care to look for it, otherwise just hold on to your seat and be prepared for some serious excitement. I can't wait for this to hit wide release and see what sort of reaction the rest of the world has towards this top-notch thriller.

A Lonely Place to Die fmovies. The trailer for this film made it look like an excellent little low-budget mountaineering thriller, set in the Scottish wilds. Melissa George and buddies being stalked by a gang of human traffickers, no doubt being picked off one by one by a rifle with telescopic sights. Hard to get wrong, right? Well, no, actually, because A LONELY PLACE TO DIE is the perfect example of a good premise going astray.

The opening sequence of this film could accurately be described as nail-biting. The subsequent events, setting up the characters and then the big twist in the woods – all are portrayed accurately. The chase through the wilderness scenes are fine. Then, at around halfway through, this film suddenly falls to pieces. The writers just haven't got a clue how to sustain momentum. The action moves to a town, and that turns out to be the worst possible thing they could do, because then it becomes a ludicrous shoot-em-up.

Melissa George, by now a seasoned veteran of horror/thrillers, makes for an engagingly tough heroine. Sean Harris has always been an ice-cold villain and doesn't disappoint. But wait, what's all this? A whole new trio of leading characters, brought into the action late on, suddenly taking over the limelight? Despite Eamonn Walker being a gifted actor, the shift in focus just doesn't work. And if I see ONE more scene in which the characters meet up with a cop who then gets shot, I'll scream.

By the end, this is tripe of the highest order, and a real disappointment. It started off so well too. Once again, check out the Spanish thriller KING OF THE HILL to see how it SHOULD be done...

I was not entirely sure what to expect prior to watching 'A Lonely Place to Die'; the plot intrigued me however after reading a multitude of negative reviews I was uncertain this film would be enjoyable.

This lack of certainty was unjustified, as I found this movie very entertaining. The pacing is spot-on and the acting is solid throughout; in addition to this, the film was not too predictable, therefore I was more than happy to see this movie through until the end. Sean Harris is also, in my opinion, a key contributor to my positive opinion of this film, as he is expectantly brilliant as always.

Overall, what stops this film from being fantastic is the lack of depth, characterisation and stand-out moments, however if you are looking for an interesting, entertaining British film with a few fresh ideas and solid acting, this is worth your time.

A group of mountain climbers enjoy a trip to the Highlands of Scotland . During a trek they find a young child buried alive in a chamber . The child who is from Eastern Europe and is obvious she's been kidnapped . The group quickly come to realise that the kidnappers are nearby and will do anything to get the child back and eliminate any witnesses to their crime

Julian Gilbey had previously directed RISE OF THE FOOT SOLDIER which I rated as a very underrated movie . SOLDIER was a tough violent thriller and Gilbey showed shades of being perhaps a future British version of Scorsese . What stopped the movie from being a mini-masterpiece is that like so many British films that just fall short of greatness ( Hello Danny Boyle ) it's a film of two halves . The first half charting the rise of Carlton Leach football hooligan to feared gangster then it effectively rights him out of the narrative and focuses on his associates who later became victims of a high profile mass murder . When this movie was released one wondered if Gilbey could make a more sustained focused film ? I don't think he has

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE is a British answer to the backwoods brutality sub-genre horror movie with a rather obvious nod to John Carpenter . According to the trivia section on this page Gilbey took up rock climbing while making the film and it shows - perhaps too obviously as the first third of the movie has perhaps a few too many self congratulatory scenes featuring characters hanging off a ledge and it's not until about 35 minutes in that the film plot proper starts to take off . Previous to this we have to put up with long dialogue heavy scenes that don't add anything to the storyline

Sean Harris plays the main villain and I've always thought of him as being one of Britain's most criminally underrated actors . He's great at playing violent psychos and as can be expected here he's not playing a romantic lead . Oh to have a scene where he has the heroine held at knifepoint growling " Ah'm going to carve you up b*tch " but this never happens because plotting takes precedence over casting and unfortunately the longer the film goes on the plot becomes more contrived and unlikely with people being in the right ( Or wrong place depending on how you look at it ) place and people reacting in ways that seem unlikely

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE is a relatively diverting thriller . It's certainly not the most credible one you'll see but there again who said movies had to be credible ? That said it is fairly uneven and you're able to recognise the faults that should have been corrected at draft screenplay level . As it stands it's a film that could have been better