Heath Jacobson (Cooper van Grootel) comes from wealth. He has created a snowboard that Del Evans (Graham Watanabe) plans on using in a tournament. On a snowy January weekend, he takes Laura Pell (Rachel Michiko Whitney) up to his family's winter chalet. He proposes to her and she accepts. Next, she discovers that Ellen (Barbara Crampton) the housekeeper also lives there. She is upset that Heath never mentioned her. Another couple shows up. His soon-to-be best man Brannon (David Lambert) and his wife Anna (Paige Elkington) show up. Then uninvited Ed (Tom Williamson) shows up. Ed is unorthodox and brings a gun which is not appreciated. It gets locked in the safe. Snow Valley was a mining town. They converted part of the mine into an insane asylum for children. The mine had a fire. They got the miners out but not the minors. This is the anniversary of the event. Things start to happen.

The film had potential. The ending lacked the supernatural element expected from the script. Characters and dialogue were acceptable. Writer and director Brandon Murphy died while this film was in post-production. IMDB claims it was a suicide.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

I didn't expect much from this movie going in and walked away with something that is for sure going in my Comedy Horror keepers.

It's short little haunted house jaunt that is less about the mystery of the house and more about discovering what the lead male protagonist is really up to.

The camera work and direction are really nice and kept the movie light and breezy. Tight shots kept everything in focus. The director prioritized characters over plot and it does pay off. Everyone played traditional stereotype horror characters and leaned into the cheesiness of the archetypes without going too ham. However, one character takes the cake.

One of those characters really hams it up so professionally I am going to need to see that character in more movies. Not sure who that actor is but he's definately on my radar. When he shows up you'll thank this review for giving you exposure to them.

The setup puts a lot of questions in the air and does a decent job of answering them by the end. Nice entertainment if you're looking for something in the background. The plot isn't tight, but it still comes together.

When I stumbled upon this 2024 movie, and seeing Barbara Crampton on the cover, I immediately had to sit down and watch the movie. With it being a horror movie that I had not already seen nor actually heard about, and having the legendary horror icon Barbara Crampton on the cast list definitely had its appeal.

However, writer and director Brandon Murphy delivered a script and storyline that fell short of entertaining me by a mile. This movie was not entertaining at all. The script was incredibly bland and generic, and without anything interesting happening, it was an insanely boring viewing experience to suffer through. Suffice it to say that I didn't stick around for the entire 75 minutes that the movie ran for, because it was simply too boring.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was actually only familiar with actress Barbara Crampton. It should be noted, though, that the acting performances in the movie were good. The Ed character, which was actually portrayed nicely by actor Tom Williamson, was one of the most annoying and loathsome characters I have seen in a movie for a long, long time.

For a horror/thriller movie then "Snow Valley" was ineffective and not a great pick if you want to sit down and be scared unto the edge of the seat.

This is not a movie that I will return to and attempt finish watching. I just simply didn't care one bit about the mundane storyline, nor for the one-dimensional characters. And not even having Barbara Crampton on the cast list was working in favor of the movie here.

My rating of "Snow Valley" lands on a two out of ten stars.