YellowBrickRoad Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

YellowBrickRoad Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 7, 2022

With the recent perhaps surprising vote in a somewhat rectangular state that defied expectations about how things on a hot button issue might play out, perhaps your social media feed has been filled with as many "we're not in Kansas anymore" memes as mine has. YellowBrickRoad obviously references a rather iconic (semi?) Kansas set tale, though for some history buffs watching this film the actual referent might be something more like Roanoke Island. There's also little doubt that this entry seems to want to up the ante for a certain iconic found footage opus of some years past and could therefore perhaps be cheekily called The Blair Witches Project, since YellowBrickRoad takes some of the foundational elements of that story, including mysterious goings on in the woods, but expands them somewhat, especially given the "Roanoke" issue of a whole population that has gone completely missing for no apparent reason.

The film's underlying conceit is that an entire town in New Hampshire took a trek on a nearby wooded trail and either were later found dead or in fact simply disappeared back in the 1940s, and there is "now" (circa 2010, when the film was shot) a contingent of researchers intent on investigating what happened. While this definitely has the aura of a found footage outing, it kind of plies a middle ground, with scenes of the investigators actually doing some filming, or at least still taking, but hewing perhaps a bit more toward a traditional narrative stance, which in fact may not help things, frankly. At least in The Blair Witch Project , the disorientation of the characters is reflected in the increasingly haphazard camera uses, whereas here, with an ostensibly "objective" perspective, the lack of answers as to what was going on back in the 1940s and is going on circa 2010 becomes downright confusing, and unfortunately the film tends to emphasize mood more than question answering.

There are also perhaps needless attempts to at least subliminally link this piece to The Wizard of Oz, and there's also a rather peculiar "metaphysical" aspect that plays into things, especially in the bizarre finale, which plays like the indie horror equivalent of a bus and truck of Sartre's No Exit. The performances are generally committed, but the characters pretty much all go gonzo after a brief spell in the woods, meaning there's lots of Blair Witch hyperbolic dramatics, though luckily no runny noses.

Had YellowBrickRoad arrived before the glut of movies that followed in the wake of The Blair Witch Project, I think it might have been at least somewhat more appreciated. Unfortunately, it comes off as both a wannabe and if I may be permitted to coin a term, a doesn't- know-what-it-wants-to-be. There's some interesting content here, and the spooky woods are well utilized, but to paraphrase a certain quote from the legendary MGM film adapted from L. Frank Baum, if they (the filmmakers) only had some answers.

YellowBrickRoad Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

YellowBrickRoad is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lightyear with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a bit akin to The Blair Witch Project in another way, namely presentationally, since some of the "lo-fi" look of this piece I'm assuming was intended. This has a very flat, minicam appearance a lot of the time, with a sometimes blanched, slightly desaturated look that is perhaps further exacerbated by some inconsistent contrast. Still, detail levels are generally quite good throughout the presentation, at least when lighting conditions allow. There is a lot of dark material in the film and there are visible dustings of noise that accrue in some of the nighttime shots in particular. The entire presentation can have a somewhat blue skewed undertone at times which gives a slightly cool, alien appearance to everything. There are a number of brief black and white interstitials which look sharp if again not particularly strong in the contrast department.

YellowBrickRoad Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly, YellowBrickRoad has a rather aggressive, maybe even abrasive, sound design which is well rendered on both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks on this disc. The surround track is definitely the way to go if you setup allows it, as there is clear immersion courtesy of both a glut of ambient environmental effects in the forest, but perhaps even more so with regard to the almost overwhelming layering of weird sound effects and scoring. The "fly on the wall" (and/or tree, considering the locale of most of the piece) approach can mean that some lines of dialogue get a little swallowed in the overall mix, but I frankly didn't miss anything I considered important. That said, this release does not come with any subtitles.

YellowBrickRoad Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Director's Commentary can be accessed under the Setup Menu, but probably should have had that apostrophe after the "s" since this features both Andy Minton and Jesse Holland.


• Practical Blood FX on an Indie Budget (HD; 11:07) features Blake Myers and Josh Russell from the Special Effects team.


• Walking the YellowBrickRoad (HD; 17:09) has a bunch of behind the scenes stuff narrated by Sam Roberts, Production Supervisor and Media Manager.


• Focus on Andy Minton (HD; 6:52) features the co-writer and co-director.


• Focus on Jesse Holland (HD; 7:41) features the other co-writer and co-director.


• Focus on Clark and Cassidy (HD; 36:52) is a Zoom like conversation between >> and >>.


• Focus on Eric Hungerford (HD; 15:43) features the film's producer. Hilariously, he mentions he met Andy Minton and Jesse Holland through an ad on CraigsList.


• Trailer (HD; 1:40)

YellowBrickRoad Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Minton and Holland had been able to knit some pretty widely diverse ideas and references together a bit more artfully, I think YellowBrickRoad would have landed more successfully. There's some unsettling stuff here, but it's ultimately probably too outré for basic horror fans, who probably want more in the explicit blood and guts department than this film offers. Technical merits are okay (video) to great (audio), and the supplements are very interesting and enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.