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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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The Maze (2010)

Rating: 2 Stars (out of 4)

Inside Cob

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

The idea for The Maze is a good one. A bunch of college students enter a corn maze at night, not knowing that there's a serial killer lurking behind the rows. Unfortunately, it makes several mistakes. Firstly, a corn maze at night is pretty dark and has no natural lights source, so it's often hard to see anything. The teens don't seem to like each other much, and it makes you wonder why they would ever hang out together. Then, the serial killer is just another teen in a red hoodie, and he's not particularly menacing. There's a reason that Jason is big and wears a hockey mask and big boots; he's scary. This guy looks like he might be capable of shoplifting from the corner store, but not murder.

The movie also needs a reason to let the teens loose in the maze, and here's what it comes up with: a game of tag. Not even the characters seem to buy this one. They tag each other almost as if it's a joke. Then, the movie makes the mistake of leaving the maze about two-thirds of the way through so that it can solve the mystery of the serial killer! And, frankly, it's an even weaker whodunit than it is a serial killer movie. In the early part of the movie, there's some good cinematography among the corn rows, and the movie makes nice use of some silly "haunted house" decorations within the maze. It might have made a decent Halloween movie, if it had tried a little harder.

Monarch released the DVD, with no extras other than optional Spanish subtitles.

Buy DVD

Trailer

With: Shalaina Castle, Brandon Sean Pearson, Clare Niederpruem, Kyle Paul, Tye Nelson, Luke Drake, Richard Dutcher, Allan Groves, Marty Steinberg, Adam Johnson, Sarah Kent, Joseph Reidhead
Written by: Katy Baldwin, Timothy Gutierrez
Directed by: Steve Shimek
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 90 minutes
Date: October 18, 2010