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The Last Resort, directed by Brandon Nutt (Lionsgate, 2009)
But, as you might expect, their party time soon turns into a nightmare, as four of them -- minus Sophia, who hooked up with Rob (Nick Ballard), another American tourist, the night before -- are driven out into the desert, robbed by their "tour guides" and abandoned in the middle of nowhere. With one of their number shot, the girls hole up in an abandoned resort and hope that Sophia will be able to find and rescue them. They have no idea that their "last resort" is so tainted with evil that the locals refuse to go anywhere near the place. Frankly, these girls would have been better off if they'd stayed home and hired a stripper. It's not that easy to go wrong with a film built around attractive young women drinking and partying, but director Brandon Nutt and the three script writers manage to do just that. Except for the one girl being separated from the group early on, the story plays out quite predictably all the way through to the final frame. We really don't see enough of what happens to the girls that night in the resort, either. Yes, we know that the cursed resort affects them in fairly significant ways, but no one even bothers to explain how it happens. I mean, there's some ancient evil involving a masked killer and a demonic cult, but.... We don't really get to know these characters very well, either. In fact, by the end of the movie, I still had trouble remembering which girl was which. As far as the acting is concerned, though, I don't think it's all that bad given the film's estimated budget of $155,000 -- it's at least competent, anyway. It's pretty clear the filmmakers didn't invest in the most advanced video equipment, though. The Last Resort will probably appeal the most to horror fans, but there's really not much here for a horror fan to enjoy. The film entirely fails to register on even the most sensitive of fright scales, and there isn't the slightest hint of suspense to be found anywhere in the script. There is some gore, but it's of the bland "look what happened here" variety. When you come right down to it, there's very little here for a horror fan to embrace, and -- aside from the hotness of America Olivo -- there's virtually nothing about The Last Resort that will appeal to the non-horror fan.
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![]() Rambles.NET review by Daniel Jolley 21 March 2026 Agree? Disagree? Send us your opinions! ![]()
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