‘Accident’ (2018) Movie Review

I recently got to check out a new film called Accident. A movie that infuses Final Destination, 127 Hours, and Die Hard all into one disaster of a movie. Sounds crazy, huh?

Accident is written and directed by Dan Tondowski. The movie stars Stephanie Schildknecht, Roxane Hayward, Tyrone Keogh, and Keenan Arrison. It starts with the two main characters, Caroline and Jess being dropped off by a parent at the bus stop with the intentions of heading to a music festival. After Caroline’s mother pulls away, she allows Jess to think that she lost their bus tickets, only to reveal that they will actually be going to the music festival with friends instead. It is almost seconds later, Caroline gets a text from these friends and plans have been canceled. The girls decide to proceed to the music festival by hitchhiking and this is the start of their “final destination”, pun intended.

The girls are almost run over and shocked by this, despite the fact they are standing in the middle of the road. After talking it out, they decide to get a ride from them which turns into a series of unfortunate events…

This movie is really more a thriller/action movie than a horror movie, which was disappointing to me. That being said I went into it with an open mind and made a point to find things I enjoyed about it.

First, I would say that the cinematography is spectacular. It is visually stimulating to watch this movie from that perspective, especially the car accident scene. My view of the acting is that it is good overall given what the actors were provided to work with as far as a script that was lacking.

The idea of this movie could have worked if the dialogue and script of the movie were improved and the story was simplified. I feel like too much was thrown in and obstacles that could have worked were forgotten in the storyline. For example, Jess states when she wakes up in the car after the crash that she can’t feel her legs, but yet later in the story she gets up without problem to get out of the car. Her trying to survive with no use of her legs could have led to a better storyline.

Another example, Fred appears to be fatally wounded by a puncture wound to his chest by a branch. Later in the movie, he just pulls the branch out like it is no big deal and isn’t injured anymore. This also could have led to a better storyline if he remained injured. The whole helicopter of bad guys should have been completely cut from the movie as it did not appear to fit. It felt like a disjointed plot that they tried to fit too many ideas in, which is common with a first movie, but again and again has been proven not to work.

Final Thoughts on Accident:

The movie had such potential for being enjoyable, as it is visually stimulating and has good acting, but it is not a movie I would recommend given the plot issues.