A waste of 90 minutes of my life

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The Cycle is set in the small town of Bradford in Pensylvania as a woman named Carrie Mitchell (Daryl Hannah) drives from California to Bangor via the back-roads of the US. While driving along at night Carrie has to stop suddenly to avoid running into a teenage girl named Amy Singer (Leah Gibson) standing in the middle of the road, Amy is blood stained & incoherent as she ask's Carrie for help. Inside the car Amy tells Carrie that her four friends have been murdered by a deformed redneck & that a mass grave of murdered people is nearby & they need to tell the police. Carrie heads for the nearest gas station & phones the police but discovers that Amy isn't quite what she appears & that Carrie herself is in great danger...Also known as The Devil's Ground in Canada this Canadian production was written & directed by Michael Bafaro & starts out like your average uninspired teen backwoods slasher but totally changes direction for the last fifteen minutes & becomes some sort of supernatural ghost story & it's a very abrupt change that comes across as very awkward & for me didn't work, much like the rest of the film really. The whole set-up is that of a woman finding a teenage girl wandering around in the woods & giving her a lift to safety & the girl tells the story of how all her friends were killed which means we know from the get-go who is going to live & who is going to die out of the usual faceless teen character's which doesn't help matters, the lack of gore or memorable kill scenes doesn't help either & after a straight forward tale of a few teens being killed off by deformed backwood Rednecks before a rather striking change in direction as The Cycle becomes a ghost story that leaves more questions than answers. The whole thing is dull, at 88 minutes it's too long & it takes ages to get going, the teen slasher part is extremely routine & predictable while the ghost twist ending is confusing & doesn't work. The character's are all dull, the plot tries but fails to do something different with the tired old slasher genre & it's not very fun to watch. Also I have no idea why it's called The Cycle, sure I understand that the teens being killed by the Rednecks is part of a cycle as more teen turn up & get killed over & over again but you could say that about any backwoods slasher flick so I really don't particularly get the significance although I must say when I first heard the title The Cycle for some bizarre reason I thought it would be about bikes!To be fair to this the film is competent & looks alright, I am not sure why there are constant shots of Crow's or Raven's or whatever those birds are but hey the director knew what he was doing, right? There's not much blood or gore here or much to get excited about, there's a chopped off hand, a few quick stabbings & a bit of blood splatter but basically nothing else. This really could have done with some gory kills to make the film just that little bit more memorable. There's fair suspense & tension during one or two scenes but not enough.Probably shot in Canada this has decent production values actually & is quite well made but as a whole there's nothing that special about it. The acting is alright, one time Hollywood star Daryl Hannah really scrapes the bottom of the barrel these days but at least it's not as bad as Shark Swarm (2008).The Cycle isn't actually about a bike & doesn't even feature a bike which I found disappointing but not as disappointing as the dull pace, the predictable backwoods teen slasher plot & the lack of any sort of meaningful gore or special effects. You could do worse but you could do better as well, not recommended.

The video looks great. It doesn't strain the eyes to watch which is rare for video. Good looking solid young actors for the most part. The music, the sound, the lighting, the foley, the directing are all very good but. Why take all the time to make and 89 minute movie? 90 minutes is a minimum to ask full admission in theaters. Distrubuters wont think about picking it up unless its at least 90 minutes. They couldn't find another minute in post? Stock footage? Anything? How about a bikini scene with Daryl Hannah. Definitely worth watching but I would have been on the editing floor with a bull whip trying to squeeze in another minute to have a chance to get into a few theaters and generate some P&A...

By no means groundbreaking, however The Cycle still manages to be a somewhat tense and rather entertaining film. The story is interesting and changes up enough to remain fresh all the way through. The acting was on the mark (even the over-actors you can't help but like) and the action did well to keep you on edge. The death scenes would have benefited from a little more attention as they are a bit on the tame side and over too quickly. Overall I don't see the film as being something that will stick with you long after viewing however it does provide for an entertaining viewing. I would recommend giving it a chance.

Daryl Hannah plays a relatively small role as Carrie, a motorist who picks up a mysterious girl (Leah Gibson) stranded on a backwoods road. The bulk of the story is told through flashbacks as the girl recounts her story to Carrie. It seems the girl and some fellow students were out on an environmental survey when they found themselves being hunted by an unknown assailant. The Cycle does an admirable job of hiding its own low budget. The directing is good, but moreover, the slick editing and detailed camera work give this film a well-produced look. The acting here is also decent enough. Unfortunately those assets don't quite succeed in saving The Cycle from B-movie status. What it can boast in looks, it dearly lacks in substance, due mainly to a poor script.The movie also feels long overall. When it eventually attempts to lazily incorporate sci-fi and supernatural elements, the audience is already past the point when they were primed to care.Ultimately, while well-made in many respects, it's not particularly entertaining or thought-provoking, so I can't recommend it. Although to be fair, it feels like the work of a good film maker who just needs a better script to work with.