Sometimes there are movies that have a natural weirdness to them that can speak directly to the audience without preamble, and at other times the plot twists and turns to confuse everyone but leaves you with a message you could take as a personal attack. Hurt has that effect and delivers it in slow motion until it fast-forwards to its depiction of reality.

It’s Halloween season, and a bunch of friends assist the town’s annual horror festival where haunted mazes, buggy rides and live shows happen on a nightly basis. Everything looks very well crafted, but what they don’t know is the craft used to breathe the same air as them. While some enjoy the festivities, others are trying to make it out alive and avoid becoming part of the attraction.

At first glance, Hurt sounds like something you’ve seen before in films like Blood Fest, Hell Fest or even House of Wax, so it doesn’t look spectacular and it seems to be far away from making a name for itself. The difference between those films and Hurt is its driver— it has a completely different motive that makes you think it’s smarter yet unaware of it. Once it starts to unleash its dark nature, which happens too late around the third act, you might get caught in the middle of interested and annoyed— the first one because the plot is finally moving and the second one because it’s still confusing. To be frank, it got me thinking a lot early on. It’s the kind of movie you have to watch twice to catch all the clues and hints handed into midair from the beginning because it’s the key to understanding its outcome, and in this case, it’s a pretty macabre ending.

The plot is slower than a snail race and it barely gives you anything besides sudden jump scares built out of loud noises, sudden moves and a very dark ambience— seriously, the lighting is so low that anything can jump out and scare the pumpkin seeds out of you. Hurt shows there is talent in the cast with phenomenal performances, and the greatest talent is behind the camera thanks to the director’s vision and his different angles to express the emotions of each character and the tension you must feel in each scene— it is as if he leads you by hand in the dark, suddenly he releases you so that you find your way, and again he extends his help to guide you towards the exit.

But, there’s a negative side to this film, and that thing is called plot. It’s confusing because it takes a while to show who the main characters are. It goes back and forth between the cast but it is only until the body count begins when you can deduce who’s story it is.

In the end, Hurt is like a broken mirror— you have to glue the pieces together to watch a regretful reflection of what you.

8 OUT OF 10 HAYRIDES