Thirty-One Days O’Horror: Shortcut (2020)

Let’s Ride #20!

Five teenagers and their bus driver encounter a sinister force in a dark tunnel in 2020’s Shortcut. Directed by Alessio Liguori, this film has a nice helping of suspense, one quick twist early on, and a creature that moves in the shadows. It’s a fun horror flick with a strong cast, a solid plot, and some nice practical effects.

The film tells the story of five teens on a school field trip that end up having to take a shortcut in order to stay on time. Their slow-moving bus, gently driven by the friendly and loyal Joseph, gets carjacked by a famous serial killer from the area. The killer’s story is built up through a flashback featuring one of the teens, but he becomes less of a threat once the bus breaks down in a dark tunnel. A new threat rises from the shadows and the group on the bus have to figure out not only how to survive, but how to destroy the monster hunting them. Do they survive? Watch Shortcut to find out who comes out alive!

I have to admit that I had zero expectations of this film. I knew nothing about it except for its title and, based upon its description, the fact that it might be a Jeepers Creepers ripoff. It’s not, but I can definitely understand why some folks may see a connection between the two films.

The film is slow in the beginning. Intentionally, I believe. It’s also relatively quiet. The bus rolls along at a slow pace, making its way through the English countryside barely making a sound. We get brief introductions to all of the characters in the film while the bus cruises down the road. Then they run into a tree blocking the road. The tree forces the bus to take a detour where they find a dead deer blocking their path. Joseph (Terence Anderson) gets out to move the deer, but he returns with a well-known serial killer, Pedro Minghella (David Keyes), holding him at gunpoint. Pedro forces Joseph to drive the bus and makes the teens toss out their cellphones. The group eventually find themselves stalled in a dark tunnel. A creature emerges from the darkness…..and things go from bad to worse.

I really liked this movie. The young actors hold their own in the film. Jack Kane, Sophie Jane Oliver, Zanda Emlano, Molly Dew, and Zak Sutcliffe star as the teens that bond together to not only face the creature, but create a trap for it. It’s nice to see them come together as one when they start off the film as five very, very individual characters.

The creature looks great. While it spends most of its time in the dark, we do get a few very good close looks at it over the course of the film. The tunnel system used in the film is a perfect place to hide a monster, and the backstory that we learn is interesting as well.

If you’re looking for a nice little horror flick with a cool creature and kids that are intelligent for once, give Shortcut a look. I think you’ll like it.

Thanks for checking out my review.