Macabre…ish Horror Review: Death Passage
Death Passage, 2014/ 1 hr 23 min
Aka Lemon Tree Passage
A man, Sam (Nicolas Gunn) is being forced by some unseen force to put a loaded gun to his head, suddenly it goes away and the lights turn back on. The whole movie he’s threatened by this entity to find someone.
•
American backpackers Toby, Maya, Amelia in Australia are seeking out a local legend that is the story of Lemon Tree Passage Road. The spirit of a motorcyclist terrorizes motorists who speed down the road. At first they think Oscar is just joking about how serious it was. But the Americans want to travel the road and see for themselves.
It begins with a motorcycle head light coming up behind them and then the light swivels, indicating the rider has wrecked. They do not turn around to check it out, they just keep going and Maya’s nose starts to bleed. The horror starts almost immediately as they turn in for the evening.
Blood runs down the wall, a razor moves on it’s own on the sink and the person in the shower is slashed, really badly, then something changes. The shower turns off and on again and he is no longer injured. It’s like the whole thing was imagined.
After they all go to bed Maya thinks she’s talking to Amelia, who is asleep. In the mirror’s reflection, someone gets up and leaves.
Then Maya dreams/hallucinates a terrible car crash scene and something ends up chasing her and she’s woken in the closet by Amelia in the morning.
All that aside, the next night, they do it again! They drive down that same remote road, surrounded by forest and once again they see a flash and they hope to record the event this time. Even going so far as leaving Oscar on the side of the road and the event happens right next to him but he can’t see it, only the people in the car see it. The group turns around to pick him up but they don’t see him anywhere. Meanwhile, something is dragging itself just out of view across the ground.
After pulling over, Maya coughs up a lit cigarette, though she wasn’t smoking. Then something happens to the car, it starts smoking and something strikes the inside of the trunk.
When they open the trunk, they find Oscar in there, with a hose connected to his face and the exhaust pipe. It’s impossible but he’s in there. Maya and Geordie freak out and try to get help, only to return and find Oscar gone. And Amelia and Toby do not believe that he was in the trunk. When they see car lights they try to flag it down but it disappears. And the trunk pops open. Then Toby goes missing.
On the one hand, no one knows what is real and what isn’t. Who’s dead and who’s alive. Plus they may not just be dealing with one malevolent spirit but many and not all bad. They begin to realize they are being haunted/hunted by history repeating itself but what history. They also realize that someone or something is definitely watching them and it’s not Sam.
This is a supernatural thriller. There seems to be more than one storyline happening here. There are some flashbacks/visions, some jump scares and a little blood. It’s paced well and has an interesting concept. I had to watch this twice because I got lost somewhere but it turned out to be really good but you have to pay attention.
TW: Sexual assault, murder, suicide