Panic Fest 2026: Pitfall (2026) Review

Director: James Kondelik

Notable Cast: Alex Essoe, Marshall Williams, Richard Harmon, Jordan Claire Robbins, Matt Hamilton, Randy Couture

 

Within the first ten or fifteen minutes of Pitfall, there are literally three instances of deer being killed. Now, granted, one of them is in a hallucinatory state for one of its lead characters, but it certainly set the stage for how I was going to watch this film.  Cause that’s certainly a silly choice, and I kind of appreciate it cause it does set the stage for what one can expect from the two-tone approach that Pitfall is using as its concept. 

 

Despite perhaps hitting the hammer on the head about the film’s ‘nature can be dangerous’ themes that are layered into the two genres that it's mish-mashing together - the survival film and the slasher, Pitfall is certainly a film that has a lot more going for it in the undertones than what I expected. This is the two-tone approach that director James Kondelik is aiming for with this film.  

 

The Hard Way (2019)

Director: Keoni Waxman

Notable Cast: Michael Jai White, Luke Goss, Randy Couture, Madalina Anea, Grant Campbell, George Remes, Ovidiu Niculescu, Andreea Diac, Michaela Holla

In a strange way, I felt a lot of hype for The Hard Way. Weird, huh? It’s a straight to home video (Netflix this time around!) action film with a very limited budget, a generic plot, and almost no marketing behind it. There are two things that intrigued me. Firstly, the cast is stellar for low budget action fans. Having Michael Jai White team up with Luke Goss is gold in terms of second tier action. Both of these guys deserve their own A-list franchises, but until that happens, we have to appreciate their screen stealing abilities in films like The Hard Way. Secondly, the film is directed by Keoni Waxman. If you look through some of my previous reviews for films from this director, you will see that I often give him the benefit of the doubt for making watchable films around all of the issues of having Steven Seagal as a lead. This is his first action film without Aikido Dracula in like a decade. That’s also exciting.