Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Brenda Song, David Arquette, Ted Raimi, Ariel Winter, Lance Henriksen, Justice Smith, Skylar Gisondo
Intro:
… if you enjoy your horror games with a chunky slice of cheese, and quite like the idea of seeing teenagers slaughtered because of your bad decisions, The Quarry will likely provide a robust, albeit trashy, good time for you and a loungeroom (or online lobby) full of like-minded weirdos.
There are few joys in life greater than that of having a few mates over, watching trashy horror movies and taking the piss out of them together. The experience can be improved with booze, or other mind-numbing intoxicants, but generally speaking, it’s a grand old time. Pop on a dodgy Evil Dead rip-off, mock the attractive but beef-witted cast, bellow instructions at the directionally challenged teens – it’s magic.
The talented devs at Supermassive Games are apparently very aware of this fact. Hell, they’ve been capitalising on it since 2015’s Until Dawn. However, the entries since then – the so-called Dark Pictures series – never quite embraced the trashy, gory glory of the first attempt. With The Quarry, the latest iteration, Until Dawn is certainly alluded to. Hell, at times The Quarry feels like a reboot, for good and ill.
The Quarry tells the tale of a group of nine teenage camp counsellors who, as the camp closes for the year, find themselves trapped overnight in Hackett’s Quarry. Naturally they decide to have a party, explore their hormonal urges and get absolutely minced by certain shadowy figures that lurk in the woods. But are the killers human, something else or a combination of the two? Look, we’re not going to spoil it, but the whole narrative follows Until Dawn’s narrative surprisingly closely. A bit too closely, quite honestly, and not quite as effectively executed.
Don’t get us wrong, The Quarry is a fun time. Played with a few mates, nursing an adult beverage or two, it effectively recreates the B-grade movie night fun, but it’s rough around the edges in ways that are not always fun. The animation, while mostly decent, occasionally takes a hard turn into the Uncanny Valley, with actor Halston Sage in particular appearing downright monstrous at times when she absolutely should not be. The script, also, skews a little predictable with a couple of the “big twists” feeling utterly unsurprising and a third act climax that’s underwhelming.
That said, if you enjoy your horror games with a chunky slice of cheese, and quite like the idea of seeing teenagers slaughtered because of your bad decisions, The Quarry will likely provide a robust, albeit trashy, good time for you and a loungeroom (or online lobby) full of like-minded weirdos.
