My review and adventure to see the premier of 'GPS: The Hunt Is On' Seattle Washington

SUMMARY: A group of adventure seeking college kids embark on a GPS treasure hunt in the Northwest wilderness. They are led to believe they will find two million dollars in cash. When they arrive at the treasure location they find what appears to be a grave. They dig up the grave to find a small coffin. What they find inside is shocking. Are the contents of the coffin real or is it all part of the game?"

 http://www.gpsthemovie.com/index.asp

I highly recommend peeping the trailer; even if only for the GPS theme song, which will now play automatically in the background so long as there is a GPS article on the front page.    

  Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Genre : Suspense/Thriller

Has Geocaching gone mainstream?  Apparently so; as there is now a feature film on the subject with all the classic makings of a B-flick.  

 But my quest to see this movie began a year ago when I and thousands of players were getting a daily fix of online puzzles and riddles since the July 2006 launch of GPS The Game, to promote this movie.   I and many other players then used our weekends to go on one or more live GPS Treasure Hunts that were an optional part of playing this game.  It was the ultimate game for everyone - outdoor adventures, homebody Internet surfering, for cachers, movie buffs, and brainiacs.

The online action began my addiction: There was a list of puzzles and riddles to solve, everyday. There was also a mystery, featuring the movie characters that can now be seen in  the suspense/thriller film.   As I advanced in the game, I got to watch exclusive behind-the-scenes clips from the movie and mystery videos.

The treasure hunting further feed my addiction: Prizes, Treasure Codes, Clues to the mystery, and Character Trading Cards all awaited those of us who playerd and  tracked down  'live' treasure boxs.   My hubby even became an official runner up 'Calvin Donavan' on one of the Character Cards. 

Many players like myself  both hid and found treasures in our own state as well as traveling to other states to find treasures. There were also players RV’ing across the U.S. looking for treasure boxes.

The online party was 24/7. We chatted on the Message Board, traded Character Cards in hopes of compiling a complete set, and offered each other hints for the trickiest puzzles. But we were careful not to give too much away, because there was a greater prize at stake. The 100 Top-scoring players were entered into a final drawing for a chance to be the star of their own 'Mystery Adventure'.  I ranked 92nd but did not win in the drawing.  Bummer!!!

 But the day finally arrived when the movie GPS:  THE HUNT IS ON was released.   AUGUST 31, 2007  

Since this was happening over the Labor Day weekend a friend and I just had to be there.  It did not really matter to us that this was taking place in Seattle Washington, at the Central Cinema and we live in NJ; far across the country from Washington.  So we booked our flight, rented a car, bought our movie tickets, and made arrangements for a hotel.  We were fulfilling our destiny.

Our tickets were for Sat, Sept 1 and the movie was shown in a cute little theater called Central Cinema.  We did get lost getting there, as Erik C. forgot to place the coords on the tickets, so we had to use local maps and the roads are screwy in Washington!

Central Cinema is a movie-dinner-theater.  The lobby is also set up as a restaurant. Great stone oven pizza was the focus of the menu. They also offered calzones, hot panini sandwiches, soups and salads. Of course there were specials dedicated to the movie.  But I can not tell !!  Seating was arranged Diner booth style with sofas. We did not have to wait in line at a snack bar because the friendly waitstaff took our order and brought our food right to our seats.  So we ordered a pitcher of a local Washington beer, a hummus platter to share and then some rather interesting lavender flavored pizza.  We could have had the pear pizza, but we decided that wasn't what we really wanted. ( We were in Washington after all and things were a bit different)  After Pizza we ordered Chocolate Cake instead of salted soybeans.   It was a rather full evening out, all in one place.  A night I will not soon forget.

When we first walked through the door Erik Colley and several of the movie actors were talking in the lobby.  So of course I ventured over to say my howdie -do's, and let them know that we had arrived all the way from NJ.  (Once we revealed our geocaching handles to the actors they knew exactly who we were. As they were playing the online game too.) This lead to Erik C. making an announcment during the intro to the movie of our whereabouts; he also delivered to us a signed poster, and a really neat folder complete with additional signed cards.  I was in heaven! He also invited us to stay after the showing for some time to meet and take some wonderful photos of our adventure .

Now onto the Movie:

The movie is loosly based on the GPS and " GPS treasure hunting game - commonly known as Geocaching around these parts. 

 The basic plot of this thriller tells the story of a pair of scavenger hunt enthusiasts  'Andrew & Bob'  who embark upon a camping trip with a group of old friends.  I do not think I will ever forget the sight of Bob heading down the trail with two cases of beer tied to his pack!!! LOL a sight to behold!   Plans for their ultimate camping trip began with an online puzzle and riddle, sent to them by someone named Shep.  So they plugged in there treasure code answer and  a mysterious optional live treasure hunt popped up on the screen. ( Very much like the GPS game we had played for a year) They imagined that this would be the ultimate game for everyone.  So this motley group of young geocachers set out to follow the trail of this mysterious invitation with hopes of finding fortune; but instead find evidence of malfeasance.  The initial coordinates lead them to photographs of a masked woman tied to a chair along with a new set of coordinates.  This is when the search took a frightening turn.  The mountains and forests that give western Washington its reputation for natural beauty contrasts strongly; with what occurs next.  Better if they heed the Ranger!!!  Now you know I can not tell you what happened next as it would spoil the whole movie for you! But, one by one they all begin to be killed, leaving the audience to figure out the truth.  And the movie ends on an intriquing note, as the computer delivers yet another treasure code to those left alive, and another mysterious puzzle begins to emerge.   I will however tell you that the inspiration for this suspense thriller came from the Green River Killings.  This real life mayhem took place in Washington and is one of the most horrific serial killings in American History.