User Reviews

Surprisingly enough, I liked this movie up until the pair left Zack's camp. After that, it turned into an absolute mess that had no idea what it was going for. The characters make stupid decisions and blindly trust people because they were pen pal lovers?

To add on to the lack of story, you are constantly bombarded with the most unpleasant strobe lighting and wonky sounds ever. It got to the point where I needed to squint in the theater so my eyes weren't flashing.

Also, I'm fine with movies that have vague endings but oh my God this did nothing to wrap up their horrible journey in the forest. Alma seems possessed and suddenly knows how to leave... wonder where she got that information from? (Oh yeah... the LSD monster probably showed her and we were supposed to understand whatever those visuals were).

Greetings again from the darkness. Have you ever wondered why they warned concert attendees to stay away from the brown acid at Woodstock? I can only speculate, but I assume the poor souls who consumed the taboo drug experienced hallucinations not dissimilar to watching this latest from writer-director Ben Wheatley. Filmmaker Wheatley previously delivered such interesting and diverse fare as the intriguing horror film KILL LIST (2011), the confusing and bizarre HIGH-RISE (2015), and my personal favorite of his, the quite funny and action-packed FREE FIRE (2016).

Martin Lowery (Joel Fry, YESTERDAY, 2019) is sent to track down a doctor whose research may provide desperately needed help in fighting a virus that has wreaked havoc on the human race. Martin himself has been in isolation for four months prior to this mission. He teams up with Alma (Ellora Torchia, MIDSOMMAR, 2019), a Park Ranger who works out of a Lodge that has been closed for a year due to the pandemic. She will act as his guide on the 2 day hike through the dense forest to find the doctor.

As you would expect, the hike doesn't go smoothly, and things turn very weird and dangerous when Martin and Alma cross paths with Zach (Reece Shearsmith, HIGH-RISE, 2015). He's the ex-husband of Dr. Wendle, the one Martin and Alma are in search of. However, Zach is off the grid and off his (proverbial) rocker. He converses with the forest, which might possibly be his most normal action.

Dr. Olivia Wendle (Hayley Squires, I, DANIEL BLAKE) is finally located, and though she and Martin know each other, she seems quite intent on finishing her research in the forest. Back at the Lodge, Alma had filled Martin in on a local folk tale ... the Spirit of the Woods, named Parnag. Most just call it, "the thing in the woods." Are we to believe nature is evil, or is nature just fighting back against humans?

Written by Wheatley last year, the film shows the effects of a pandemic on some people and how trying to solve things through science may fall short. Paranoia, distrust, dread, and isolation from others are all at play here - and quite in line with our current state. A supernatural element hovers, but the psychedelic images keep us disoriented, and seem to exist for the sole purpose of visual effects. The strobes are so strong they could trigger responses from sensitive viewers, and if they don't, the gore likely will. Cinematographer Nick Gillespie and composer Clint Mansell are standouts here, and though Wheatley is to be commended for his quick work, the film didn't really click for me. Perhaps the two best comparisons are THE HAPPENING (2008) and the far superior ANNIHILATION (2018).

In theaters April 30, 2021.

Okay, in the hundred plus years that movies have existed, practically every plot has been explored more than a dozen times each, and sometimes I go too far in exploring new ideas through visuals that are just repulsive and turns the viewer off. Outside of a few big historical epics and special effects blockbusters made particularly for teens, movies just aren't accessible to the average audience anymore. It seems that flmmakers are going out of their way to make audiences feel less than intelligent while they are the real geniuses, and that is why the average movie goer of the past just snickers when the bulk of these kinds of movies fail both critically and financially.

Give me the Val Lawton produced shockers of the 40's or the Hammer horror or John Carpenter films in the 1980's. Even the lamest of the universal B horror films was more enjoyable than this, another claim that the woods hold a lot of evil and we should stay out of them if we want to retain our sanity or not run into the most horrible of situations. It takes forever for this to get off the ground with bland scientists Joel Fry and Ellora Torchia being abducted by wackadoodle Reece Shearsmith while searching for a missing scientist. As the explanation of why this is happening is revealed, all credibility is lost and chances are by the time these explanations come out, the audience has completely lost interest.

It's another case of gross visuals occurring for pointless shock value, a painfully tepid pacing and leading characters who have absolutely no personality. The mention of some sort of pandemic has really no purpose other than to reflect what was going on in the world. It's like the film is dead on arrival from the first moment, broken up by blackouts between scenes that sometimes seem to be eternal. This is one of those films that is a miracle to even make it an hour into. I thought at first it would be interesting to watch because Fry does haave an interesting aura, but unfortunately, he got suckered into a film that on the surface may have seemed interesting, but revealed little below. 2021 was difficult enough to get through without having to suffer through something this maudlin.