There's so much I like (and want to like) about Ti West's Trigger Man that I'm willing to overlook a few flaws and missteps. For example, the movie moves amazingly slowly. I'm sure that Mr. West knows it's a fairly draggy experience for the first two acts, and that's probably exactly how he wants the movie: Lull the audience in and convince them that this three-person hunting expedition is the pinnacle of all things mundane. This approach allows the eventual horrors to feel all the more shocking and realistic. And while there's certainly nothing wrong with the "slow burn" approach to thriller flicks, Trigger Man often threatens to slow down to a literal crawl. I may have been interested in the skimpy and admirably minimalistic story ... but damn if I wasn't fidgeting in my seat more than once or twice.

The plot is like Deliverance Junior, minus the man-on-man rape. A group of three pals head into the forest to hunt some deer. (This takes up the first half of the movie.) Eventually a shot rings out and our three protagonists have become two. The second half of Trigger Man is focused on the pair of survivors and the methods in which they try to escape from a killer who's as accurate with a rifle as he is virtually invisible. Based on actual events, Trigger Man offers a stripped-bare woodland thriller that probably would have worked a whole lot better as a 50-minute film, but it takes feature-length to get any attention these days, and I suspect that Mr. West was compelled to simply stretch the thing out as far as it could go.

If you're a horror fan who digs deep into Netflix's new release rack, then you've probably seen Ti West's The Roost by now. It's an admirably weird little throwback to the Saturday afternoon monster matinees that features killer bats and tongue-in-cheek goofiness. So if you dug that flick and wanted to know when Mr. West's next offering might hit the scene ... well here it is: Trigger Man.

Apparently based on actual events, Trigger Man seems to be about a group of hunters who travel deep into the forest, only to somehow become the prey! Scary! The official site offers a few interesting clues, plus the IMDb informs us that longtime indie guy Larry Fessenden will be making an appearance, so count me among those who'll be interested when Trigger Man hits DVD some time next year.

[Thanks to BD.com for the tip!]