The Clearing

"'The Clearing' is one of those productions that uses horror as a vehicle to address another social theme, which in this case is the relationship between father and daughter. The premise of the movie is quite simple and direct: a father goes camping with his daughter to spend more time with her, and their little vacation is interrupted by an outbreak of zombies. When his daughter disappears, this father will do anything to rescue her. As a piece of zombie subgenre horror, it is very interesting what the movie does: the zombies are faster and more dangerous than the standard we are usually used to, which significantly increases the adrenaline of the movie. In addition, the camera and editing game are extremely dynamic, which contributes a lot to the rhythm and dialogues with the proposal of accelerated zombies. It is interesting that the production is very simple, the movie is an original from the Crackle video network, and had a very low budget to be made. Because of this, debut director David Matalon had to find creative solutions to mask his limitations, such as reducing the locations of the movie by making it take place almost entirely in the trailer and surroundings of the camping, using quick cuts to mask effects and keeping the narrative always simplified. As a horror, the movie guarantees dynamism and tension, but underneath that we still have a simple and touching story about family connection, unconditional love and natural instinct of protection. Horror fans, especially those interested in the production methods of the work, should check out this movie."