No matter what the tragic back story the writers feed us it’s impossible to root for characters when they make consistently stupid decisions. “Desolation” is heavy on clunky symbolism, and comprised of three characters that do nothing but make bad choices when they’re in the middle of a bad situation. Anyone with common sense probably could have made it out of the situation director Sam Patton presents, but there’s more concern with doling out goofy poetic irony than any kind of chills or suspense.
After her husband dies from a long battle with cancer, mom Abby (the very sexy Jaimi Paige) decides to take her son Sam camping in the wilderness with her best friend Jen (equally hot Alyshia Ochse). As they spend time trying to come to terms with their loss, they soon realize they’re being stalked by a lone hiker. What seems like a small confrontation at first turns in to terror, as they realize he’s intent on tormenting them and possibly harming them. Now they must rely on one another to escape the hiker.
“Desolation” has a lot of potential to be a tightly wound and creepy horror drama about a mother and son coming together, but it’s so drowned in lack of scares or tension. Nothing in the movie amounts to a worthwhile experience, from the characters making dumb moves left and right, to such cheesy symbolism. Abby is so frightened she can’t make it with her son, but here comes a threat testing their mettle. Symbolism! Sam fights off the hiker with his dad’s Swiss army knife. Symbolism! Abby is frightened she can’t survive with just Sam, and now she must survive in the wilderness. Symbolism. Sam must endure a literal trial by fire, if he hopes to survive and make it home. Symbolic.
Hey, while we’re camping in the middle of nowhere let’s get drunk and smoke some weed. Stupidity. While the hiker is tracking us, let’s run around screaming for one another. Idiocy. “Desolation” has the seeds sewn for something truly gripping and entertaining but everything just falls apart the moment we’re introduced to our villain. He by the way looks like Jim Morrison doing Rob Zombie cosplay, and doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose beyond tormenting these people. Despite the fascinating premise, “Desolation” is a lackluster and forgettable survival thriller with a terrible script. The Blu-ray from “Shout!” comes with a trailer for the film.