LOOP TRACK (2023)

New streaming on Screambox and Tubi from Dark Sky Films!
Directed/Written by Thomas Sainsbury.
Starring Thomas Sainsbury, Noa Campbell, Tawanda Manyimo, Kate Simmonds, Hayden J. Weal, Bianca Seinafo, Gaby Solomona
Check out the trailer here!!

Thomas Sainsbury plays Ian, a man trying to get away from everything that gives his anxiety, which is…pretty much everything. Wanting to see nature alone, he tries his best to avoid contact with other hikers along the New Zealand loop track through the wilderness, but a friendly hiker named Nick (Hayden J. Weal) refuses to take the hint and walks along with him. Soon the two pair up with another couple, Monica and Autsin (Kate Simmonds and Tawanda Manyimo) and this secluded and quiet hike becomes anything but. But the group is not all that is trouncing through the woods. Ian begins seeing some kind of creature lurking in the shadows and though the group begin to suspect that Ian is a sick man experiencing hallucinations, they soon find that the danger in the wilderness is very real.

After watching the trailer for LOOP TRACK, I was thinking this film would be a prime candidate for my semi-regular Bigfoot Toes of Terror review series, but after seeing the film, I realized that the creature that may or may not be following the hikers is not Bigfoot or a Yowie as this film takes place in New Zealand. Still, I won’t spoil what the monster in LOOP TRACK is. It’s something you’ll have to find out for yourself or from some other reviewer who is a bit more generous with spoilers.

What I will say is that the acting in LOOP TRACK is on point all the way through. This is a bleak film, following an unreliable antagonist in the jittery Ian. While I found myself not liking Ian at all and hoping he would succumb to whatever was following the hikers in the woods, I have to admit that even though I didn’t like the main character, Thomas Sainsbury does a great job of playing an unlikable lead. Sainsbury, who also wrote and directed the film, does a great job of keeping whether there is or isn’t something in the woods secret for an extraordinary amount of time, which kept my interest despite my dislike of the lead.

I do think that, while there are major hints throughout the film, the answer to whether the monster is real or just in Ian’s head is held back a bit longer than it should have been. Most likely this was done because of a lack of budget. When they do tip their hat and give the big reveal, I was impressed that LOOP TRACK was able to accomplish so much with so very little.

One of the things that bothered me all the way through LOOP TRACK is why Ian decided to go on this hike since it is obvious by his constant panting and sweating that Ian isn’t very good of a hiker and most likely has never hiked at all. While the film goes a masterful job of showing Ian’s anxiety, lack of social skills, cowardice, and rampant imagination, the reason why Ian is plagued with all of this is left off screen. Through the film’s runtime I felt that a few important pieces of information, namely; the reason Ian is hiking and why he acts the way he acts, were left out, which is another reason Ian is such a hard character to connect with as a viewer.

That said, there is a wonderful low fi PREDATOR vibe going on throughout LOOP TRACK. I wasn’t disappointed in the reveal when the bodies start falling, but it took it’s sweet time to get there. And despite the fact that I kind of loathed the lead, the mystery kept me invested and I think it will do the same for you if you give LOOP TRACK a chance.