Brightwood

Going through a rough patch in their marriage, a couple trying to put it behind them with a heated exercise section around a nearby lake in the woods are confronted with the terrifying prospect of being trapped in the area and unable to leave as they're chased by shadowy figures.

This was a generally enjoyable and likable genre effort. Most of this is based on the highly effective and trippy sense of atmosphere built up that border on the nightmarish. The longer the two wanders around the woods running into each other, bumping into each other coming up behind the other unexpectedly, being unable to find their directional bearings, coming across strange beings or objects left in their way, or encountering a series of weird sensory phenomenon, these aspects provide a fantastic nightmare-logic setup. These situations are effectively eerie and unsettling while being unnerving enough to let the action present play out as there's quite a lot of fun to be had once they get to the second half and the scenario gets far wilder and bloodier which makes for some fun to be had here. There are some big factors against this one. Among the biggest issues is the overall repetitive nature of what's going on here as there's not a lot of variation found throughout the film. It's easy to notice that this one falls into a formulaic pattern of the two yelling at each other, encountering something supernatural that prevents them from leaving and continuing the process several times over which shows off the incredibly weak storyline here. Rather than do something with this type of setup of them meeting versions of themselves in alternate timelines, there's nothing here that hasn't been seen in this type of storyline setup before so it's not all that original. These factors are enough to bring this one down somewhat from what it could've been based on its positives.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

I won't pretend to be smart enough to figure out all the time loop stuff, but this was a fun ride and I was satisfied with the ending. You're left with questions, but there's a strong message that leaves an impact that mattered more than all the details. I was so surprised by how great this was (especially for free on Tubi) that I'm genuinely shocked at how low it is scored here. I see some valid complaints among other reviewers, but this is objectively not a bad movie. Heck I'd probably watch it again! And I would absolutely recommend it, especially if you're into horror. This movie proves that you don't need a big budget to tell an interesting story.

It started with a lot of promise and seemed to be building into something really interesting.

There was a lot of potential here to create a great story and taken it to a decent conclusion but the writer just went off with the fairies.

We are taught, at school, that a story needs a beginning, a middle and and end. This had the first two but careened off the rails into a massive train wreck.

It just made no sense, at all, and I cannot understand anyone giving it a 10. Perhaps they were watching a different movie, with a different ending or, sorry, simply any ending would have done.

This is just pulp and could not recommend it even if you were desperate for anything.

Let's start by addressing the acting: horrible.

The dialogue: Forced, stilted, unrealistic, dumb and cookie cutter. Literally no one talks like that couple in the real world!

Their reaction to what they discover as the main problem they are faced with is so laid back they even crack jokes! Imagine a movie that is trying to be grounded, serious and scary having scenes where a guy being chased by a lion shouts to the lion "Woah... dude, not my a__se! You crazy!?". That's this film.

Or if aliens landed and the people in the movie reacts with casual dismissal before carrying on with hteir lives. That's this film.

I went in seeing it was low budget and giving it a pass because of that... but really, what was the director thinking?

The $14K budgeted movie just gave me a much better time than just about any big budget horror/sci-fi flick I've watched in the last few years. Starts of briefly as a domestic drama before morphing into a bit of thriller, than gets into the horror before revealing the high concept of its plot. Don't want to give anything away, as its best to not know what is coming, but this was brilliantly done, and I'm still thinking about the significance of the ending. The two leads also killed it, as they have to portray quite a few different sides to their characters. Looking forward to whatever Dane Elcar does next.