User reviews

Terrific scenery. It stops there. If any musicians were actually playing (daughter excluded, she couldn't even pretend convincingly), it did not match the soundtrack. So, Jack's score was jotted in a notebook and scored for piano? And he took his phone out during a performance? The first three minutes set us up for a comedy of sloppy film-making. And why did his daughter suddenly walk out into the path of the only car on the road, coming towards her with lights on? And then there was the posse of villains, who get out of the car, and walk on into the night, leaving the car with its lights on. Dumb is as dumb gets.

Really, the lack of research, attention to detail and common sense destroyed what credibility the movie may have had. Shame, because the basic premise was sound, despite the execution.

The Girl in the Mountain is a terrible film. Slow pace, bad acting, made me laugh out loud because of how bad it was. This film tried too hard. 1 star rating. Let's be honest if you're giving this movie a 10 out of 10 you were probably part of the movie production or a friend of the director because there's no way a normal reviewer would give this film a 10 out of 10. More like a 1 out of 10.

Update *The director Matt Sconce literally has asked his many Facebook followers to to leave a five star review whether they watched the film or not.

I am a dumbass, because I read the reviews before watching, but still wanted to give it a chance. Boy, do I regret it.

The acting, my god! The acting is so unbelievably horrible! I'm so sorry, because I can imagine how much effort goes into making a movie, but this is just a waste of everybody's time. The actors are unable to deliver a single line convincingly, but perhaps that is also due to the actual lines themselves.

The script is so wooden, that I thought I was watching a kind of spoof/parody movie during the first half hour. But they're serious. E.g. Main character comes across a little girl, dirty looking and alone, in the woods and his first response is to get mad at her for stealing his food...? Instead being concerned, because there is a friggin child abandoned in the wildlife middle of nowhere?

The story is basically about nothing, but the little plot that it does have, consists solely of clichés that have been done a thousand times before (and a thousand times better).

If you still watch this movie after reading this review, I wish you luck. My heart goes out to all the people who made this movie, don't quit your dayjobs folks!

This has got to be the worst move I've seen. The acting is TERRIBLE and everything about it is just stupid including the plot. Don't waste your time! Good thing I didn't buy this.

Worst acting. Only good thing about this story was scenery. This isn't a Disney nor Christian movie and you're telling me red necks who look like heavy metal rockers don't say one curse word the whole movie? Not even a damn. Lmao. At least with Disney and Christian movies you know what you get. Why would director make it so unrealistic? "You better stop right now mister or I will hurt you" Lol. So cheesy. Dude gets spear stuck in leg and no cursing out of anger? I mean it doesn't have to be like CASINO with too much swearing but that was ridiculous and the acting just horrific. You got the blood and violence but not a sh#t? Very cheesy. Pass up unless you want to see God's beautiful nature.

Not worth renting. Not worth watching. Bad acting bad storyline, bad everything. The director is asking his followers to give good ratings and reviews. Don't fall for the fake ratings and fake reviews. This is such a terrible film.

I really enjoyed this film. Maybe it's because I'm a filmmaker and I know how much blood, sweat, tears and passion goes into an indie film like this. I liked the chemistry between the actors and I found the girl's performance authentic and natural. The scenery was great and it was a good watch. Would recommend.

I came on this movie when surfing titles on Prime. Certainly not the most exciting, action packed movie but it was filled with the suffering that comes out of shame that many can identify in their own lives. Maybe not the exact circumstances but the shame of past mistakes haunts many of us. I appreciate Matt Sconce for his willingness to address the subject in film. Living with shame is a painful experience and some never overcome it. A decent attempt by Sconce to bring the issue to the surface. I also loved the scenery of the High Sierra mountain range which I actually recognized from many backpacking trips years ago.

I knew in the first few minutes when a grown man comes across a hurt hungry child in the middle of no where and tells her to go away and leave him alone that this was going to very underwhelming. And then he makes her sleep outside while he stays in the tent the first night... wow. And then the redneck posse climbs out of the truck to go look for her and leaves the lights on the truck. He cooked fish on a smokeless fire. I feel like I am so much dumber for watching this movie... I felt obligated to post this review to try and save someone, anyone, from the pain I have endured. Sorry this ran long but they make you type a minimum number of characters so I had to add some fill. Lol But the movie really is bad...

Scenery is stunning, the acting is very 'Mark Borchardt' . So sad because the start was promising and then the 'reason for the runaway' scene began.. Oh dear. It's annoying because the scenery and cinematography are really good but the rest is very "Hey let's make a movie". Your Gran might enjoy this.

The disgraceful thing about this movie is it should be good but the acting is cheesy and the script is worse, and the main baddie is so cliched that it's toe curling. One minute the mute kid is mute, the next she speaks then she's mute again. There's no depth to anything in this movie other than the mountains and wilderness.

This movie is like a suit with bad stitching. The most disappointing of it is the screenplay. So, given the screenplay, I would say that acting is OK most of the time, even though characters are barely sketched. I have to imagine the guilt and suffering of the man for loosing his daughter and to guess the emotion and the development of the bond and trust between the girl and the man, Big Al not really convincing, nor the fighting scenes, in the woods I would bet on the redneck, not on the orchestra conductor playing Rambo. Also the waitress at the end is quite hilarious getting scared by the knife.

Can't believe a film this bad can still be released in 2022. The writing was like a highschool project. The acting was incredibly forced and unbelievable especially the bad guys. Only the girl's acting was passable but that didn't make up for the atrocious writing and direction. I assume the writer and directer hold far left ideologies...that's the only thing i can speculate as to how a movie could be made so bad in these times of knowledge, talent and imagination. The forest is the only thing worth seeing in this film... wasted $8 on this....if i knew how bad it was, i wouldn't have spent $1. You know. You have no reason to waste your money.

Execution was awful. Just no common sense to a few details.

The girls acting was superb. Jack's character was trying to be a hard mountain man but yet a sensitive artist. It just didn't work.

Daniel O'Reilly is definitely not suitable for this role (I don't know if he's suitable for any other role). If it's. Jim Caviezel.would have made the movie more profound and the plot it should be. Starting with the crying already make the movie looks crappy.

The Girl on the Mountain is an astonishingly beautiful, gorgeous film. Lead actors Daniel O'Reilly and Makenzie Sconce paint a powerful character sketch of loss, courage, redemption, and ultimate renewal. I expect both to become huge stars as they simply light up each scene they are in. O'Reilly is massively heroic as the flawed protagonist Jack Ward, and is truly handsome. Dana T. Carney carried the role of the antagonist leader Big Al, and made me hate him. We'll done!

Director, cinematographer, and editor, Matt Sconce's obvious talent bolsters the story using a sweeping flourish of powerful scene choices that perfectly match the massive acting ability of the cast. Sconce paints the screen with soaring and scenic high mountain vistas, then continues his artistry through perfect direction of the cast.

This is no digital effect, virtual effect film. It is a great story with ACTING. I was swept away as I happily experienced this film.

It is simply wonderful. I immediately bought the film.

Go see it!

This was a bad movie. I could barely watch the first 20 minutes or so and then skipped to the end, of which I barely watched another 2 minutes.

I did not miss anything by skimming over most of the movie. Why the hero does not immediately bring the girl lost in the woods to authorities belies imagination.

The acting is bad. The hero trying to blow his head off seems to be ripped off from Lethal Weapon, where Mel Gibson does the same scene a lot more convincingly.

The young lady has apparently been lost in the wilderness for some days and looks like she walked out of a salon, with some cheap makeup applied to her face to make her seem famished.

Greetings again from the darkness. Jack Ward first appears as the conductor of an orchestra during a live performance. It seems to be going well until he declines a call from his teenage daughter, Melody. See, it's his day to pick her up from school. When he doesn't show up, she walks home. After receiving congratulations for the musical performance, tragedy and guilt strike Jack on the same day. And then tragedy strikes again. It's more than one man can take, and the next time we see Jack, he's on a mountaintop contemplating suicide.

Writer-director Matt Sconce delivers a story from Christopher Mejia, and much of it takes place in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Actually, the mountains and the shots of nature (filmed by director Sconce) are the standouts here, as it's terrain that we haven't seen too often on screen. As a conductor, Jack (Daniel O'Reilly) was the ultimate clean-cut professional. After time on the mountain, he a haggard, worn-down man with little reason to live. He carries a bullet in his boot for the day when he's strong enough to end things. One day, a mute girl steals food from his backpack. He tracks her down and since he (conveniently) knows sign-language, he learns the mute girl is running from a dangerous family situation. He calls her Aria (Makenzie Sconce, assuming her to be the director's daughter), and the two bond over skimming stones, fishing, and paper airplanes.

The tension in the story is twofold: flashbacks and the pursuit. Jack and Aria both have their flashbacks to bad times. Jack recalls his mistakes with daughter Melody (Sarah Dorothy Little), while Aria's dreams remind of her an unbearable life with her dad, Big Al. It's Big Al's pursuit of Aria that keeps her and Jack on the lookout. He's hunting her down since she was witness to his horrible action. There are two distractions here that deserve mention. The eye makeup on Mr. O'Reilly is downright creepy at times, while the orthodontic braces on Aria's teeth simply don't belong, given the deep poverty of her home life.

Mr. O'Reilly, young Ms. Sconce, and Ms. Little are fine in their roles, but the other supporting characters, though not on screen for long, are detrimental to flow. The story of redemption and awakening is really nothing new, but the mountainous setting adds a level of differentiation that keeps us interested. A strange ending leaves us wondering, what now?

Available On Demand beginning March 8, 2022.