The Shortcut

The Shortcut is a 2009 horror-thriller film directed by Nicholaus Goossen. The film stars Andrew Seeley, Shannon Woodward, Dave Franco and Katrina Bowden. Adam Sandler's production company, Happy Madison Productions (under the name Scary Madison Productions) made it and Sandler served as an executive producer. The film was released direct-to-DVD on September 29, 2009 in the United States.

Plot

In 1945 a young couple, Ivor Hartley (Daniel Maslany) and Irene (Tracy-Lynn Pugsley) are leaving the homecoming dance. The couple take a shortcut through the woods where they begin to make out. Irene wants to stop, but Ivor attempts to rape her. She manages to injure him, however, so he leaves. As Irene makes her way out of the shortcut, Benjamin Hartley attacks her, hitting her over the head with a rock and killing her.

It is revealed that Benjamin has growing health issues, and eventually begins to murder anyone he sees using the shortcut. Ivor, and the rest of Benjamin's family then hide him away from the rest of the world, by shackling him to the basement by a chain around his neck.

Dave Franco

David John "Dave" Franco (born June 12, 1985) is an American television and film actor who is known for his roles in the films 21 Jump Street, Charlie St. Cloud, Fright Night, Now You See Me, Warm Bodies, and Neighbors, and on the ninth season of the series Scrubs. He is the younger brother of actor James Franco.

Early life

Franco was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of Betsy Lou (née Verne), a poet, author, and editor, and Douglas Eugene "Doug" Franco (1948–2011), who met as students at Stanford University. Franco's father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent. Franco's mother is Jewish (from a family of Russian Jewish ancestry, with her parents having changed the surname from "Verovitz" to "Verne"); Dave has stated that he is "proud" to be Jewish. Franco's paternal grandmother, Marjorie (Peterson) Franco, is a published author of young adult books. Franco's maternal grandmother, Mitzie (Levine) Verne, owns the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, and was an active member in the National Council of Jewish Women. Franco grew up in California with his two older brothers, Tom and James.

The Man

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either passively, openly or via sabotage.

History

As a phrase meaning "the boss" it dates from at least 1918.

In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."