Even if you can't come up with an exact title or two as proof of your conclusion, I am pretty confident that while watching "Desolation", you'll be saying "I have seen this basic story before." Needless to say, this saga of innocent people being stalked by a madman in the woods is sorely lacking originality. But it probably could have worked again, albeit in a somewhat familiar sense, if the filmmakers had added some spark. However, there is no real sign that the filmmakers were trying to make this stand out from the rest of the movies in the backwoods slasher genre. It takes forever for the movie to get going, with more than half of the movie going by before the protagonists find they are in serious trouble, with the movie padded out with inconsequential footage right up to that point. And when the protagonists start to flee for their lives, there is pretty much no tension or suspense. The movie just seems to be going through the motions weakly. One main reason for that is that the stalker is a pretty boring figure; he doesn't talk, just stands around and watches a lot, and has no apparent motivation for why he's doing what he's doing. About the only thing the filmmaker manage to do is make the movie look okay for its low budget; it's fairly well shot in scenic locations. Apart from that, this is pretty much a misfire, and I would have given it a much lower rating had it not just been 76 minutes long. You'd be better off seeking a copy of the 1977 Canadian backwoods horror movie "Rituals" instead.
Review of Desolation
