Murder At Raven's Ridge (DVD)

...film or book that has murder in the title. Once again, this is a film that I had never heard of, but the blurb on the back sounded interesting and so I fell for it. Luckily I borrowed this from Blockbusters on a three for £5 deal, otherwise, I'd have been seriously annoyed that I'd rented it at all. It is quite probably the worst film I have ever seen, and I thought I'd seen some pretty bad ones. There is simply nothing to recommend about this film.
...plan an armed robbery of a security van and manage to carry it off successfully, mainly because one of their team is one of the security officers. Making off with a substantial sum of money, they escape to Raven's Ridge where they bury the money, planning to come back when the coast is clear to collect their booty.

Some time later, the friends head back to Raven's Ridge minus one of their team - the bogus security officer is caught ... more

Introduction
I'm such a mug for any film or book that has murder in the title. Once again, this is a film that I had never heard of, but the blurb on the back sounded interesting and so I fell for it. Luckily I borrowed this from Blockbusters on a three for £5 deal, otherwise, I'd have been seriously annoyed that I'd rented it at all. It is quite probably the worst film I have ever seen, and I thought I'd seen some pretty bad ones. There is simply nothing to recommend about this film.

The plot
A group of friends plan an armed robbery of a security van and manage to carry it off successfully, mainly because one of their team is one of the security officers. Making off with a substantial sum of money, they escape to Raven's Ridge where they bury the money, planning to come back when the coast is clear to collect their booty.

Some time later, the friends head back to Raven's Ridge minus one of their team - the bogus security officer is caught and arrested on suspicion of his involvement in the heist. On arrival at Raven's Ridge, the friends find it harder than expected to find the money, particularly because someone appears to be chasing them. Then one of the gang gets caught in a bear trap and is finished off in front of everyone else by an arrow shot by an unseen hand. Can they find their money and leave the area safely before it is too late? And will they find out who is responsible for chasing them?

The actors/characters
What a bunch! I only recognised one of the group, played by Jorge Garcia (the rather large one from Lost), who was probably the best of the lot - at least he was fairly realistic. I'm sure he'd now rather forget that he ever played a part in this film. There is very little character development; we have no idea how the friends met or whether they have a criminal background - frankly I didn't care all that much either. The token woman of the group played by Dawn Howard, along with her boyfriend were quite probably the worst of the lot. Howard's performance was particularly dire. It seemed that she was reading her lines off a cue card - the way she read them was particularly false and her portrayal of fear was laughable. Her boyfriend was not much better, but at least he was able to get through his lines without looking like a statue. The leader of the group played by William Kendall was so insipid that I couldn't remember his name, despite only having watched it the other night.

I don't think Dale Howard, who played the bogus security officer had any talent at all. He played the most openly evil of the group, but again did so in a way that seemed completely phony - a lot of sneering and face pulling that just made him look stupid. Then there was the zany one. His character was completely over the top, but I got the impression that there was actually some talent there, it had just been squeezed out of him by the rubbish screenplay and bad direction.

Last and very least was the murderer, played by Philip Connery. He had clearly been told to look sinister, but failed miserably. I've been more scared by Mickey Mouse. This role was simply laughable.

Technical bits

Classification: 15

Running time: 90 minutes

Conclusion
I really cannot think of a single good thing to say about this film, except that I suppose I did manage to watch it until the end…with a bit of help from a couple of glasses of wine. I think I've already said enough about the characters, which on their own managed to completely ruin the film for me. To add to that, the screenwriting was weak and there can be nothing worse than a poor actor speaking poorly written lines.

The plot could have saved the film from being totally dire - it did look good on paper. Unfortunately, there are too many unexplained parts. The heist merges immediately into the arrest of the security officer, which merges in turn into the second trip to the Ridge. The problem is that we have no idea of what timeframe this all happens in - it appears to happen within a matter of days, but this just doesn't seem to be possible.

Added to all that, the music that runs throughout the film, particularly at the beginning, had the same appeal to me as a piece of chalk being scraped down a blackboard. When I first put the DVD on, I thought there was something wrong with the DVD - the music (if you can call it that) sounded something like a broken starter motor.

This film was clearly done on the cheap. There have been some good films that have been made on a budget, but this is not one of them. Nothing whatsoever appealed to me about this film and I cannot understand how it ever got released. Steer well clear unless you're stuck on a desert island with this alone for entertainment.

The DVD is available from play.com for £11.99. But please don't buy it - you'll regret it!
 

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