Sooo many things wrong with this that it's difficult to know where to begin.
The plot. Five teenagers that you hope will head off into the woods to be hunted by a madman head off into the woods to be hunted by a madman. However, it's not until the end of the movie that the so-called madman has any real reason to hunt the kids. In fact, throughout much of the film, he intentionally misses killing them, instead just terrorizing them for some unexplained reason. Along the way, general stupidity ensues. At one point one of the guys shoots a stranger and happily exclaims, "woo hoo! I got one! I got one!" only to later be remorseful (while one of the girls smiles after taking a stick from the other girl - totally inappropriate for the scene and likely missed by everyone as she's just fooling around in the background). Truthfully, there's nothing else left to the plot.
The characters. The alpha male, Leon, is a loud obnoxious boor you hope gets killed quickly. Which he does. His best mate is not much better (although he doesn't try to rape anyone); this character (Gray) goes raving mad a few times. (The best parts of the movie are when Gray gets slapped around by Carl and later one of the girls; true laugh-out-loud moments!) One of the girls, Tanya, states that she loves the loud obnoxious boor, but we're left wondering why as he's a loud obnoxious boor. And he has a very slim grasp of sanity. The second girl, Julia, is almost a non-character she's so bland. The only decent kid of the bunch is the younger brother, Carl, who didn't want to come along on the trip anyway. Mac (Bruno Lawrence), is the recluse/madman, though neither adjective fits. Finally, we have Lise who has some undefined relationship with Mac; she quickly goes insane after killing Leon.
All of the dialogue sounds as if it's been dubbed over in an echo chamber. There are a few scenes where it would be natural to have an echo, but in most scenes not. It just does *not* sound good at all. Regarding the music, the only piece that's acceptable is during the last scene and credits; the rest is either inappropriate for the scene, or, in the case of the 80s music from the "ghetto blaster," just bad. One song, in particular, is repeated many times (one assumes the producer got a deal on that one).
On a related note, during a scene on the bridge after the attempted rape, the assault victim and her brother "dance" (their word) to a relatively slow song. But it's not dancing by any stretch - they literally hold hands while jumping in a circle. Ughhh.
The scenery may have been nice, but the forest colors seem to be desaturated. Additionally, there's something between the frame rate and the digitalization and/or streaming (I watched it on Prime) that makes even the slow panning nausea-inducing.
The best part of the movie is the climax where Mac is chasing down the three remaining teenagers. We finally have something resembling acting.
It's really a two-star movie, but I'm giving it three for purely base reasons - all of the girls get their kit off.
Aside: I believe the horse ridden by Mac is actually hurt during one stunt; it sure looks and sounds like it.
The plot. Five teenagers that you hope will head off into the woods to be hunted by a madman head off into the woods to be hunted by a madman. However, it's not until the end of the movie that the so-called madman has any real reason to hunt the kids. In fact, throughout much of the film, he intentionally misses killing them, instead just terrorizing them for some unexplained reason. Along the way, general stupidity ensues. At one point one of the guys shoots a stranger and happily exclaims, "woo hoo! I got one! I got one!" only to later be remorseful (while one of the girls smiles after taking a stick from the other girl - totally inappropriate for the scene and likely missed by everyone as she's just fooling around in the background). Truthfully, there's nothing else left to the plot.
The characters. The alpha male, Leon, is a loud obnoxious boor you hope gets killed quickly. Which he does. His best mate is not much better (although he doesn't try to rape anyone); this character (Gray) goes raving mad a few times. (The best parts of the movie are when Gray gets slapped around by Carl and later one of the girls; true laugh-out-loud moments!) One of the girls, Tanya, states that she loves the loud obnoxious boor, but we're left wondering why as he's a loud obnoxious boor. And he has a very slim grasp of sanity. The second girl, Julia, is almost a non-character she's so bland. The only decent kid of the bunch is the younger brother, Carl, who didn't want to come along on the trip anyway. Mac (Bruno Lawrence), is the recluse/madman, though neither adjective fits. Finally, we have Lise who has some undefined relationship with Mac; she quickly goes insane after killing Leon.
All of the dialogue sounds as if it's been dubbed over in an echo chamber. There are a few scenes where it would be natural to have an echo, but in most scenes not. It just does *not* sound good at all. Regarding the music, the only piece that's acceptable is during the last scene and credits; the rest is either inappropriate for the scene, or, in the case of the 80s music from the "ghetto blaster," just bad. One song, in particular, is repeated many times (one assumes the producer got a deal on that one).
On a related note, during a scene on the bridge after the attempted rape, the assault victim and her brother "dance" (their word) to a relatively slow song. But it's not dancing by any stretch - they literally hold hands while jumping in a circle. Ughhh.
The scenery may have been nice, but the forest colors seem to be desaturated. Additionally, there's something between the frame rate and the digitalization and/or streaming (I watched it on Prime) that makes even the slow panning nausea-inducing.
The best part of the movie is the climax where Mac is chasing down the three remaining teenagers. We finally have something resembling acting.
It's really a two-star movie, but I'm giving it three for purely base reasons - all of the girls get their kit off.
Aside: I believe the horse ridden by Mac is actually hurt during one stunt; it sure looks and sounds like it.