Böser Wald

A group of friends & family gather at a remote holiday home in rural Ireland, but they're off-put by the sulfuric stench of a newly opened sinkhole a couple of miles away. The stench will be the least of their cares when a bit o' hell breaks loose.

"Beyond the Woods" (2018) is an Irish horror Indie that's mostly mundane drama at the holiday home where the dudes & dudettes hang around drinking & smoking or maybe walking the yard/woods. If you can handle that, things turn horrific in the last act with pretty good infernal f/x, especially for a spare-change Indie. Personally, I enjoyed the lens into everyday social life in Ireland, but others may understandably find it tedious.

The film runs 1 hour, 23 minutes, and was shot in Cullen (the holiday home & surrounding woods) & Crosshaven (creature nightmare scene), County Cork, Ireland.

GRADE: C

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed most of this movie. Good character development and chemistry between the actors; with the acting being rather impressive, and likely best thing going for Beyond the Woods.

If this film were just a straight up drama about some old friends dealing with becoming different people in the interim time from when they last got together until this trip, it would have been rock solid. Even some of the creepiness was at first very well conceived, and could be explained away in the story by the drug/alcohol use and human anxieties they cycle through during their time secluded in the wilderness. It really would have been just fine if left at that. Unfortunately, it was originally developed as a horror flick and so the filmmaker ruined a 7 star indie drama by eventually forcing it into becoming a cliched supernatural slasher. I feel like that's a pretty big shame because the final twenty minutes was just super cheesy and so jarring when compared to the bulk of the story. Things just escalated too fast and it felt out of place. 5/10

I was quite surprised with this film. A very misleading poster alluding to a slasher of sorts. If it's a gory slasher you want this isn't what you're looking for. Very light on gore and on screen kills Beyond The Woods does character better than most horror films. A very naturalistic ensemble really sells the story of a group of friends who haven't been in touch as of late. The acting is really outstanding and the small number of special effects are solid too. My only niggle would be I would have loved more horror early on particularly out in the woods during daytime. Best scene in the movie is a guy getting lost in the woods early on which was gripping it really built suspense to breaking point for me. Would have loved to have seen the holy well at some stage too. More horror and I would rate higher but a great film nonetheless. Atmosphere and tension in spades.

The film is about seven friends who gather in a farm house to reminisce about the good ol times. What could go wrong? Right! I thought the storyline was great, the acting was too but I wish the script had more to give us, the audience mid-way. Apart from that I thought it was still entertaining and this is one of those films you must watch if your into the genre.

There was an actual story which I didn't expect, and it's not terrible. The issue is it takes up the first two thirds of the movie and it's more soap opera than horror. When the horror kicks in it's a bit predictable. Overall, it's worth a watch, but don't expect quality cinema.