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Last Great Wilderness Review: In an unlikely pairing, two desperate men, one escaping and one seeking revenge, set out on a journey north to play out their parallel fates. Charlie (Alastair Mackenzie) is driving to avenge the musican who has stolen his wife and Vincente (Jonathan Phillips) is escaping a contract castration ordered by a man who caught him in bed with his wife. When their car breaks down on an isolated road, they take refuge in a gothic retreat, run by a strange community. When the emotions, fears and horrors of this group come pouring out, the result is terrifying mayhem... Critique This low-budget film was directed David Mackenzie and has often been likened to the British horror classic The Wicker Man starring Christopher Lee. This comparison should by no means suggests that the newer film is remotely as powerful as the older one, although there are definitely some similarities between the two. After a lean introduction, our two main characters, city boys Charlie and Vincente, run out of petrol while driving in the Scottish countryside. There is no chance of reaching a petrol station and the only place of refuge is a nearby house. After being invited into the mysterious retreat, the duo are persuaded to stay the night. An atmosphere of unease quickly develops and both men quickly acknowledge that there is something not quite right with either the house or its many inhabitants. Charlie's first reaction is to leave as quickly and as quietly and possible, but obstacle after obstacle makes this a fiendishly difficuly task to achieve. Mackenzie builds the sense of danger with incredible effectiveness, following the The Wicker Man example by avoiding cheap, gimmicky intermittent scares in favour of one proper climax instead. Deliberately incongruous oddities are inserted into almost every moment of the film to create a sense of tension and, since an overwhelming amount of the film is spent on set-up, the audience should be suitably intrigued as they attempt to guess the exact nature of the so-called 'big payoff'. Dialogue is realistically bare and the editing paces the narrative quite briskly, resulting in a desirable style that relies heavily on subtle touches and meaningful glances. However, the film's ultimate downfall is the climax, towards which the tale has been heading for some 90 minutes. This final revelation seems slightly random and will not satisfy the viewers who have, after all, invested so much time in the story beforehand. The Wicker Man's ending may have also been unguessable, but its cunning upon reflection made the entire film a rewarding experience that deserved another watch. Here, the playful set-up may be partially as effective, but the conclusion undeniably disappoints in comparison. The cast, led by the director's brother, Alastair Mackenzie, match their underplayed performances to the film well and the tale is quite entertaining overall, but a classic this is most certainly not. 6 out of 10 The Video As has often been the case with this recent string of low-budget British horror flicks, The Last Great Wilderness was filmed using digital video cameras. Footage shot using this sort of equipment always looks ugly and this feature is no exception to the rule, but Mackenzie's camerawork and careful positioning of the camera keeps a noticeably tight control on the potential digital unsightliness. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the image suffers slightly from smearing during fast camera motion, but black levels, on the other hand, are impressive. Colours look fairly rich for digital material, while no grain or major print damage is obviously on display. Some object edges can occasionally appear to be overly enhanced but, on the whole, this is a good low-budget transfer that derives most of its poor appearance from the cameras used as opposed to problems in creating the disc itself. 7 out of 10 The Audio Rather unsurprisingly, this low-budget outing is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack. However, the film almost entirely takes place in quiet, remote locations and any possible Dolby Digital 5.1 stream would have, in general, been very restrained – as a result the loss in immersiveness brought about by using the inferior stereo format has not been as large as it would have been in the case of an action film. Overall, the soundtrack more than suffices, offering clear dialogue throughout. Those with home-cinema receivers, however, may want to use their hardware to effectivel 'upmix' the track into a superior format to add some ambience from the rear channels. 5 out of 10 The Extras Undoubtedly due the relatively tiny number of predicted sales for this DVD title, virtually no effort has been made as far as the disc's supplements are concerned. The first extra is a photo gallery which is presented as a minute-long video montage in anamorphic widescreen. Unfortunately, no background music accompanies the stills as they roll by. A 6 minute promotional reel entitled 'Coming Soon On DVD' follows, which is presented in 1.33:1 full-frame and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - the obvious purpose of this supplement is to advertise a few titles yet to hit the shelves at the time of this disc's release. The only other extra included in the package is the film's 2 minute theatrical trailer, which is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Surprisingly, this turns out to be an skilfully compiled promo that sells the film very strongly – it's worth a quick spin just to see how clever marketing can significantly alter the entire perceived mood of a film. The disc is supplied in a standard black plastic amaray-style case without a booklet inside, while the menus match the poor showing of extras by being static and lacking in any background sound. Overall, therefore, this is a highly disappointing collection of bonus material for fans to browse through after watching the film. An audio commentary by David Mackenzie, Alastair Mackenzie and Jonathan Philips should have been the first item on the list, followed by a significant documentary or interviews reel at the very least. Therefore, this title can only be recommended for purchase by fanatical lovers of the film – others will be quickly disappointed with the disc overall thanks to the lack of proper bonus material. 2 out of 10 RATINGS SUMMARY Movie
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