Reed tip, directed by Dan Fabrigar, has all the materials to create a creature horror movie. The film begins with a nice build-up – an opening sequence featuring a reel of newspaper clippings superimposed over a voice-over that describes the antagonistic creature’s backdrop, immediately intrigues the audience into the story. We then cut to a crashing RV. The accident killed several people, but two people survived.

A year later, Sarah (Sasha Anne) is convinced that her cousin Kelsey (Madison Ekstrand) survived the accident and that something “not human” took her to the woods. Kelsey’s boyfriend, Alex (Evan Adams), the second crash survivor, supports Sarah but is skeptical of the search. Screenwriters Tricia Aurand, Suzanne DeLaurentiis, and Sandy Lo lay out the basics in the first ten minutes: they tell compelling folklore about the New Jersey Devil, create incident/character motivations, and then lay out the goals in the desert.

The buildup is impressive, and the film creates valid expectations but gets bogged down in trying to justify the overall plot. Honestly, there are parts of the story that are really good. How the opening leads to the crash intrigues you as a viewer, hoping the bar rises higher from that point. Throughout the first half, Reed tip successfully avoids predictability and brings unexpected twists and atmosphere thanks to the chilling background score.

However, throughout the second half, the film falls apart. The well-thought-out tale loses its grip when it tries to add multiple subplots together. This proves confusing to the audience and ultimately yields no results. First, it never acknowledges its own folklore. Instead, it transitions from a creature feature to a slasher. It adds a sudden, unexplained and unconvincing side story, which ultimately kills the mood that has led the viewer through the film to this moment.

“…Sarah is convinced that her cousin Kelsey survived the crash and something “not human” took her…”

Although it has all the right ingredients, the storyline just isn’t well constructed. The writers try to give viewers some new revelations about the titular area of ​​Reed’s Point. But when they arrive, such a decision only downgrades everything viewers have understood up to that point. Farbigar’s direction also suffers the same fate in which it forgets to reward initial setups, shuffling the entire plot into a weave of unanswered questions.

Additionally, the sequences aren’t properly timed and the actors fail to portray the spooky and confusing backdrop of the haunted woods, remaining mostly emotionless even in the climactic moments. That’s when the film completely loses its grip, unsuccessfully leaving audiences with an ambiguous ending. Unfortunately, this is neither logical nor exhaustive. There are so many unanswered questions that instead of being ambiguous, it ends in incompleteness, even more strongly affected by the action.

Reed tip starts out as a one-of-a-kind offering. The creature is new and the backdrop built around it looks interesting. Given the budget, the lack of adequate lighting (essential for a movie shot mostly in the dark) and conspicuous errors in the creature’s costume can be overlooked. But, despite its best efforts to escape the clichés, the film couldn’t find a proper escape, and ended up getting confused with too many characters and stories coming apart at the end. That’s why it’s a little frustrating because it started well and it’s even worth it. Unfortunately, it ends in total collapse.

At various points, it feels like Fabrigar has gone to some crucial lengths to release a worthwhile film, but for some unknown reason his enthusiasm slowly wanes as the film progresses. As a result, Reed tip gives you conflicting thoughts. Was it a good movie? Gently. Could it have been better? Yes, because it does not deliver on its initial promise or the intriguing setup from the start.