Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Welcome to Mike's film talk on Air. This is episode six, which means we're talking about Oregon Trail, or as I like to call it, Terminator of the old west. Now, it's interesting to note that the title of the film is odd, because when you say Oregon Trail, it sounds like you're actually saying Oregon trail in like an american accent.
[00:00:25] So it makes no real sense that they call it Oregon Trail. But anyway, that may just be me. Now. The film feels like a cross between, like I said, Terminator of the old west and West Craven's the Hills have eyes with no papa jupe. It is set in the Old west and is based on a screenplay by Meg Turner. Now, rather interestingly, rottentomatos.com have actually given this film a score of no poi. That means basically no points.
[00:00:59] The audiences were a tad more optimistic, or nice, if you will. The bums in sea crowd gave Oregon trail a whopping 39%.
[00:01:09] Wonder why?
[00:01:11] Now the story the story is about a family, father, mother, son, daughter, who all get trapped at too high in elevation to survive winter. They head to the valley below to beat the snow. And yes, I'm a poet and I know it. Sadly, they bump into the dead residence of a wagon train slaughtered by some unknown entity. One woman is still alive. Cassidy, played by Texas actor Olivia Grace Applegate, is helped by the family, who repay this act of kindness with their lives. After the family are murdered and only Abby, Zoe de grand Maisonous is alive, Abby and Cassie try to escape. Now here we need to have a long aside before I get into the nitty gritty of organ trail. Let me go off on a tangent. During the entire movie I kept thinking that Abby, aka Zoey, looked hauntingly familiar. After performing my due diligence, I could not figure out where I had seen this young lady before.
[00:02:08] Her very face haunted me. I knew without a doubt that this young lady had graced my screen before. But no, I'd seen nothing else she'd worked on. Then I spied my read list and found an old the mick episode had been viewed. A light bulb went off over my head and I searched for the IMDb listing for the show. Lo and behold, I found out why the actress looked so familiar.
[00:02:34] You haven't got the picture in front of you, but if you pull up the IMDb listing for the mic, you will see a picture of an actor on the far left as you face the screen. Now, this guy and Zoe could be twins, or at the very least, brother and sister. After looking high and low, I could find no connection between the two. But trust me, Barbuska and de Grand Masson are not, according to the Internet, related.
[00:03:01] And for at least 75% of the movie, I had this deja vu going on. You know, where had I seen this face before? And of course, after I found the answer, I had to rewatch Oregon trail without the distraction I previously encountered. It didn't really necessarily help.
[00:03:19] Now, as western horror films go, and there have been a few, Oregon Trail is not overly bad. There is, however, that tendency to color all the characters actions if they were 21st century products and not pioneers in the victorian eradic. Oregon Trail works as a horror film on many levels though. And while there is no Papa juke to run things, as I mentioned before, Nicholas Logan as the murderous Reese is pretty threatening. And just gotta say, Logan's been a busy lad. He's been in dark winds, the last stop in Yuma county, the name of two, and he's managed to show up and be disturbing in each show.
[00:03:57] Oregon Trail is not quite murdered by the numbers, I've got to say, but it is close.
[00:04:03] I mean, sure, we can't see every plot twist, but we see enough that it begins to become tiresome. However, the film does actually entertain all the main players do well here. New Orleans son Sam Trammell as the Papa Jupe before Reese takes over, is spot on as the alcoholic and bloodthirsty gang leader. The performers who played the butchered family, also convinced it could be down to the director Michael Patrick. Jan runs with this modern sounding old west vehicle and manages to make it work with the aid of editor David Codrump. We can just convince ourselves that the old west really was like this. Murderers and cutthroats around every bend.
[00:04:44] Now, the overall verdict for this show to me, is an easy three stars out of five.
[00:04:51] It entertains, and the actors all equit themselves brilliantly. It is currently streaming on Paramount plus, and it can be rented and bought on Amazon prime. Check out the trailer, go online, pick it up on YouTube, and you can have a look at it and, you know, see what you think. Is it a hit or is it a miss? Well, that's me for this week and this episode. So as usual, keep watching the movies and television and having fun. Bye.
