Skip to content

DVD Review: THE MAZE

Written By:

Paul Mount
the_maze_review

The Maze Review

Review: The Maze / Cert: 18 / Director: Steve Shimek / Screenplay: Katy Baldwin, Timothy Gutierrez / Starring: Shalaina Castle, Brandon Sean Pearson, Kyle Paul, Tye Nelson / Release Date: Out Now

Post-Cabin in the Woods it’s a bit difficult to take seriously any movie about a gang of teens who wander off into some remote middle-of-nowhere wilderness (where they can’t get a mobile phone signal) because Joss Whedon’s witty and wonderful movie deconstructed and laid bare all those clichés and, in theory, made teens-in-peril slashers off-limits – at least for the foreseeable. Someone should have told the makers of The Maze what Whedon was up to because, if nothing else, we’d have been spared this deeply-dreary, unimaginative offering which we’re a-mazed (yes!!) ever got off whichever sorry drawing board it was conceived upon.

So here we go again. A group of college friends (get out, this lot won’t see twenty-five again) decide to break into a closed corn maze in the middle of the night (as you do) for a game of tag. But wait! There’s some bloke with a knife wearing a red hoodie (how low was the budget again?) in the cornfield with them and before long he’s… well, he’s just stabbing them, one by one.

The word ‘derivative’ barely does this one justice so we’ll try ‘boring’ and ‘pointless’ too and see where they all get us. As murderous mysterious rampaging psychopath movies go, The Maze just doesn’t get off the starting blocks. The script is lifeless, the acting is listless and the killer is just this guy in a coat who doesn’t even come up with gross or inventive ways of killing his victims. The Maze is so bereft of ideas it actually runs out of maze-based steam halfway through and the rest of the film shifts into an only slightly more suspenseful gear as the survivor of the group becomes embroiled in a cat-and-mouse battle of wits with the killer who’s determined to finish the job – whatever it was. I certainly had no idea what his motivation was but with murder methods as dull and unimaginative as these I’d have been minded to advise him to give it up as a bad job and take up something only marginally less tedious – accountancy perhaps.

The Maze is just one big bore. There are no characters to invest in, no sense of excitement, no thrill of the last-minute will-they/won’t-they escape. The corn maze itself is a visually dreary setting and the half-time switch to a cramped Police station just barely saves The Maze from the box marked ‘instantly forgettable’. Lame.

Extras: None

Paul Mount

You May Also Like...

black widow star scarlett johansson in talks to lead new universal jurassic world film

Scarlett Johansson In Talks To Join JURASSIC WORLD Film

Another MCU star appears to be taking up the reins for Universal’s new Jurassic World movie: two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson is reportedly in talks to lead the franchise that
Read More

Exclusive Reveal! Titan Comics to Deliver Prehistoric Hysterics in First 2 DUMB DINOS Collection

Titan Comics have exclusively revealed to STARBURST that they’re gearing up to publish the first-ever collection of the hilarious cult digital comic strip 2 Dumb Dinos, and we’re not the
Read More

New Dates For Lovecraftian Key of Dreams

Key of Dreams has announced new spaces for its titular immersive luxury horror event. The critically acclaimed company is known for its overnight experiences that dunk you into a strange
Read More

FAB Café to Host Free Film Screening of New Indie Comedy SECRETS OF A WALLABY BOY

We’re well known for our championing of truly independent filmmakers here at STARBURST, so it’s doubly exciting to be writing about one of our own! After joining the crew in
Read More
colin farrell returns as oswald cobblepot in the penguin series trailer

Colin Farrell Returns In THE PENGUIN Trailer

Colin Farrell returns as Gotham City’s answer to Tony Soprano in the first trailer for Max series The Penguin, which spins out of the world of the 2022 DC film
Read More
michael keaton as beetlejuice in beetlejuice 2 trailer

First Look At Jenna Ortega In BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE Trailer

Almost 40 years down the road, the infamous bio-exorcist finally returns in the first trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 cult classic film. Jenna Ortega (Wednesday,
Read More