A Lonely Place To Die- Spoiler

A Lonely Place To Die- Spoiler

Directed by: Julian Gilby
Starring: Melissa George, Ed Spleleers, Sean Harris
Certificate: 15 

The Scottish Highlands, below zero temperatures, extreme weather conditions, miles away form civilisation, or in other words, the setting of A Lonely Place to Die.

The film opens with Alison (Melissa George) scraping her way up a sheer cliff edge with fellow climber Rob (Alec Newman) and tag along climber Ed (Ed Speleers), the trills begin early in this film when Ed makes a near fatal mistake and nearly sends all three of them falling to their deaths but that would make this film very short and reasonably boring, so after Ed is turned upside down, Rob saves the other two and all is well…so far.

From this point in the film it is clear to the audience there is some tension between Rob and Ed and Alison is the peacemaker, As the three climbers clamber down a hillside towards a small cottage on the mountain we are introduced to the last two of the 5 climbers, broody Jenny (Kate Magowan) and Alex (Gary Sweeney).

The tension between the characters is brewing as young Ed is a little bit arrogant but all is well after a bottle of Gin and some card games that evening at the dinner table.

The five some awaken in reasonable spirits the following morning ready to compete with the harsh climbing conditions of the Scottish highlands.

The five climbers take to the mountains and after a while of hiking they decide to take a short rest stop… well they thought it was going to be a short one.

Ed decides to go for a wee and deviates from the group but while he is urinating he hears a quite whisper in the winds, the noise is made again. He calls to the rest of the group who are reluctant to see what Ed has found.

When the group congregate the whisper happens again. Now the audience gradually begin building up suspense, as it’s been a while since their pulse has been racing in this film so it is quite suspecting that these five climbers will find something in this forest.

The whisper is coming from an old rusted pipe in the ground, after the group come to the conclusion that this pipe is a breathing source to something buried underground, they decide to dig. They come across a wooded crate buried under layers of dirt and leaves. As the group prepare themselves to what is inside the box, two of them open the lid to something they never expected.

There is a small girl scared out of her life huddled in the corner, Anna, it is apparent early on that she doesn’t speak a word of English and is malnourished.

The group decide to take her to the nearest village to get her seen to and broody Jenny becomes attached to the young girl.

Alison and Rob decide to go through a shortcut to get to the village first and call for help, but it becomes apparent that they are not the only people on this cliff edge.

We see Rob and Alison climbing down a sheer cliff edge adequately named, Devils Drop, when rocks start falling above them, falling or thrown?In a high intensity scene Rob is hit with one of the rocks and falls to his death, Alison is clipped by a rock and falls but some trees break her fall, when she reaches the bottom she looks up only to see a dark figure turning away. Now the audience and characters know someone is trying to kill them.Alison follows the river further down the mountain and meets up with the rest of the climbing group to break the news. Shots fire and Jenny is left with a hole through her eye and falls in to the fast flowing river only to drag Anna with her.Alison dives in and grabs a hold of Anna and they begin swirling down the river.The rest of the group come to the realization that somebody is trying to kill them and it may have something to do with what they found in that wooden crate.

The remainder of the group rejoin and scatter into the trees. This is when the audience meet who has been trying to kill the climbers, Mr. Kidd (Sean Harris) and Mr. McRae (Stephen McCole).

The scene changes to a car speeding down a Scottish Highway, there is a CD playing in the stereo, it is of a man that sounds very similar to Mr. Kidd, and its of him telling the terms of a kidnapping. The audience now understand that Anna was kidnapped in Serbia and taken to the Scottish Highlands in order for exchange of money. Inside the car are Anna’s fathers hired investigators.

The climbing group, well what remains of them anyway decide a plan that Alison, Ed and Anna will run a separate way and Alex whose wife was shot in the head will carry climbing equipment with the oat that Anna was wearing wrapped around it and run a different way. The killers fall for the trick and chase Alex who is sadly shot, shot again and shot for a third time to his death. After a quick argument with the killers, Mr. Kidd shoots his companion and now the kidnapper/killer becomes solo.

The remaining two climbers and Anna run into the local town where it seems a festival of some sort is brewing, they run into the local police stations where a withered policeman is suspicious to the story that the panicked climbers told him, he says he’s going to call for backup.

The hired investigators make their way to the local town to make a deal with the kidnapper/ killer who doesn’t have Anna. They meet in a restaurant where the deal begins, once the investigators realise that the killers don’t have Anna they escape.

A shot fires into the police station and the three of them escape round the back, Ed is shot in the back and falls to his suspected death.

Alison and Anna run into a local house to hide when Mr. Kidd follow them, Alison fights the Kidd and during the ruckus a fire breaks, Kidd dies but Anna and Alison are stuck in the upstairs bedroom with the growing fire. Alison gets Anna out the window and Alison falls unconscious because of t

he fumes. The film ends with Anna being returned to her parents, Ed surviving the shooting and Alison being in an ambulance still alive.

The film is very suspense full and developing into a dramatic finale. The film is extreme effective as a thriller, as the audience are full of tension with there arms digging into the arms of there chairs with the high intensity action.

This film is not a typical thriller but is an enjoyable watch.

The film is full of loud suspense full music which just adds to the overall suspense of the film.

FILM RATING 4.5/5 STARS