Devil’s Path

An original thriller with twists and surprises, filmmaker Matthew Montgomery’s Devil’s Path is a satisfying genre piece that plays out in a fairy-tale setting: a deep, dark forest where getting lost is inevitable. Noah (Stephen Twardokus) is a rangy, nervous guy hanging out with his tarot cards and Sony Walkman (the story is set in the 1990s) on the main trail of a wilderness park—an area where gay men hook up for anonymous sex. Angering a couple of burly men when he bumps into them, Noah appears to trigger a potentially violent, homophobic reaction, setting up further tensions to come. But before that cat-and-mouse game ensues, Noah meets Patrick (JD Scalzo), a cynical, asthmatic fellow cruising the park and daring Noah to walk with him along a forbidden trail called the Devil’s Path, where several gay men have disappeared. Over the course of the afternoon and evening, Noah and Patrick become hopelessly lost, chased by those homophobes and bickering in escalating distrust of one another. Montgomery keeps viewers guessing about the real motives of both Noah and Patrick, and while the script relies on too many coincidences, overall the intricate structure of Devil’s Path is compelling. A film that will appeal not only to LGBTQ audiences but also to anyone who loves a good mystery, this is recommended. (T. Keogh)