riding bike paths in the mountains isn't mtnbkn...
for a low budget horror movie it was OK, but only just and nothing I would waste anyones time recommending they watch. (not that I was expecting much, it's just that horror movies and mountain bikes are up on my list of favorite things, so eventually I had to give in and watch it...)
(spoilers ahead)
Worst thing about the movie, to me, is their out riding at "Whistler" and they stop at a "barbed-wire" topped trail closure gate. Discuss how two mountain bikers died riding the trail last year, and that going another way won't be much of a ride. But the tough chick obviously has to ride past the gate, and the whipped little bf follows. After that set up you at least hope to see some cool mountain biking, but they end up riding SMOOTH forest roads 99.9% of the whole film...? WTF The last bit of riding she breaks onto some single track and 5 seconds later endo's and gets knocked out.
So then the other thing your waiting for in this film is when the killer starts offing people by swiping their vitals with chain rings and disc rotors. Well it only happens once, chain rings, and it's way more than underwhelming.
"This is particularly apparent in the film's first kill sequence, which could have looked ridiculous if not for the tight, well-judged editing."
Translation, they barely show what happens because it's ridiculous and even they know it, and it's so quick I missed it the first time because I was reading due to the film being a bit slow. So quickly I rewind to see what happens, and you get a splash of some dude about to jump, a camera behind the cranks view of the chain rings flying frisbee style towards their victim thats "evil-dead" cheesy, and then cut to the guy gargling blood with a ripped out throat. It's edited down to microseconds of cut scenes, and it's a big let down IMO.
Most of the riding scenes are boring, and I can see why this lead other reviewers to think there was just too much bike riding in the movie. It just wasn't edited into the movie very well, and since it was just smooth forest roads? bla...
And then the other thing that was really annoying was how much the leading actress kept grunting and screaming all the time. I guess she was trying to show how traumatized she was and how grueling of an ordeal she was going threw? But it was a bit overboard. On the other hand, they did at least pick an actress that could ride her bike, and looked like she could be a bike messenger/mountain biker. (and in fact she did actually ride the bike for at least the majority of riding scenes, course they were on smooth FR) Anyway, from me they do get mad props for actress choice as the rest of Hollywood generally picks some trendy hot chick who obviously can't walk and chew gum at the same time let alone balance on two wheels. (but as long as she has a sex tape or has been in rehab within the last 6 months she's perfect for the role)
OK, one last jibe, the killer's riding a FR/DH bike with a very cut down seatpost, she's a professional bike messenger riding a Trek EX?, (it seemed the frame stickers magically morphed into something else later in the film, hornet? on the TT but maybe that's what EX's are in Germany?) Anyway, she's on a 27 speed 4-5" travle bike and she needs to get away from this guy on his 9/18 speed 7+" travel slack head angled FR bike...
Couldn't she just have rode UP the hill????
