No Through Road (2009)

Written by Steve Chamberlain

Horror

No Through Road is a collection of four found-footage videos where a group of teens driving in the United Kingdom get stuck in a space-time loop after driving through an abandoned through road. Each of these videos are mostly in chronological order, with a single narrative plot tying them all together.

I HIGHLY recommend watching this with a group of friends if you ever want a short film where you all can speculate on what is happening, why it's happening, and what will happen next. All of the videos are only around 30 minutes combined, so give them a watch if you're curious.

This is a bit of a shorter review compared to others on this blog as I can't write a ton of stuff that hasn't already been covered by other online sources. The writer, Steve Chamberlain, has given a few interviews about its development, stating that the first video was initially written without a script, with dialogue being mostly improvised. Later videos did use a script, which was repeatedly rewritten due to fears of the plot being too complex or too simple. Additionally, No Through Roads has provided several spin-offs inspired by it.

There isn't an exceptionally wide berth of things I can say about the film itself; the effects and acting is spectacular, the video and audio quality is low but this was made on a very small budget and it works in the films favor given its a found footage film, I thoroughly enjoyed how the plot ties together and purposely leaves some plot points unanswered, and I like how they repeatedly foreshadow events that will happen or already have happened in previous loops.  

If you enjoyed No Through Roads and the concept of space loops or found footage, you may also enjoy Cat in The Box (game), and the Blair Witch Project (film).

Quick Overview of Each Episode:

No Through Road 1: A group of teenage boys drive through a broken down through road and end up in what I like to call a space loop. A space loop is a time loop, but with space instead of time. Imagine you are in your bedroom, open up the door to leave, and instead of finding your hallway its just an identical bedroom on the other end. Space loop. While in this space loop, the group is stalked by a masked man with a knife.

No Through Road 2: Three years later the sole survivor from the previous video, and his friend, visit the accursed road to pay their respects but end up getting stuck in a space loop in a field. They also meet one of the boys who went missing in the previous video, who is unaware three years have passed.

No Through Road 3: Two minutes of driving down a peaceful road where nothing of significance happens.

No Through Road 4: The three find themselves back in the first loop from video one, but this time watching themselves from the first loop as outsiders. Each try to find their own way to break the loop.

I find the final episode to be the most interesting because of this. The fourth video ends with the sole survivor from the second video running away with a mask in his hands, presumably to ensure that some part of Loop 1 comes to pass and allow his escape (its left up to speculation).  Meanwhile, the missing boy that was found in Loop 3 remembers being attacked in Loop 1 and believes that if he can prevent or alter this outcome, he can break the loop as a whole. This, as you may have just watched, backfires as his past self panics and kills his future self before running off, likely to video 2.