MOVIE REVIEWS

I **loved** the set-up for _Getaway_, that whole first act gave me serious _Wolf Creek_ vibes, which, I don't know about how the horror community at large feels, but to me that's a compliment. Unfortunately, as soon as the actual story started happening, I feel like the wheels started falling off, and not long after that, the whole thing collapsed. Also they definitely should have called this movie _Girls' Trip_. I know there's another movie with that name already, but there's already a movie called _Getaway_ too, so... _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._

_**Confused “woke” story about 3 killer hicks in North Carolina, Jaclyn Betham, and 2 girls kissing**_ In the heart of North Carolina a young woman (Jaclyn Betham) meets her two friends at a lake for a getaway (Scout Taylor-Compton & Landry Allbright), but she’s kidnapped by two hicks and taken to their pa’s backwoods homestead. Can she escape with her life? Can her two friends save her? “Getaway” (2020) riffs on the cabin-in-the-woods plot with several good things going for it: The locations, cinematography, a few beautiful females, convincing misogynistic rednecks and good music, but it’s ruined by several problems. The most egregious issue is that the script lacks necessary detail and needed a couple rewrites to flesh out the potential of the story and make for more convincing characters. As it is, we have three hicks in the sticks that mix Evangelical Christianity with a twisted penchant for serial killing and loads of unexplained mumbo jumbo about saving their “angels” by killing them. As for the girls, without revealing anything, let’s just say the surprise isn’t believable in the least, particularly based on what we know about these characters through their previous actions (remember the hairdryer scene?). This is eye-rolling fantasy. Lastly, the “woke” checklist is too obvious and annoying: Evil redneck quasi-Christians, lesbians, misogyny, girl power, etc. Note to the director/writer: Including several scenes of beautiful women kissing can’t make up for a script that sucks because you were too lazy and conscious of being politically (in)correct. But statuesque Jaclyn Betham, who’s reminiscent of Megan Fox, is well utilized and almost makes the flick worth seeing… almost. The film runs 1 hour, 16 minutes, and was shot in Randolph County, North Carolina. GRADE: D+