The Woods Are Real

This got passed around a lot the last few days, so i decided to check it out. Only 80 minutes - why the hell not? Starts cool - some interesting dialogue- i think i recognized one of the actors right away, maybe even another. Felt almost like this older indie movie called Compliance a few years back. Then it really starts to open up - once they get called to go upstate - cabin, yada yada. But then - to it's credit - the film gets kinda wild and weird. Not my cup of tea honestly - the philosophizing got to be sometimes to much for me - but the acting was honestly kinda great throughout and it really had a cohesive look. I recommend for folks looking for more a creepy meditation than anything else.

Check it out.

I'd say the vibe of this is more the speed of someone looking for more than blood, guts, violence. If I had to compare it to something recently, I think the Invitation or actually that film - it Comes at Night. It's not a virus spreading or anything like that - but it's sort of this contagion of faith the characters are going through. And have to get out by any means necessary.

Did you like Squid Game? This is actually more on that track. A survival test. Or The Game from the 90s with the dude from wall street. Took my son to this when it played a festival here in Washington. He's in his teens, brought his friend, they both thought it was cool as well. Which surprsied me, becuase it's not an "easy" movie.

Having seen that the director doesn't do bad films, I kept sitting through it hoping to be enthralled & entertained, but it never came.

I got to the halfway point before giving up.

The story upto where I aborted was, couple host party, guest wears cake, invites them to the woods, they goto the woods, get lost, bloke in a mask steapsbthe wife, bloke gets lost again, finda a friend, finds some birds who can sing, has something to eat with them, "Oh Good God, this is boring, abort abort".

So at that point I gave up & read a book about a bird who lived in her own in the Dales. It was riveting. Unlike this.

If I can watch an entire film, but don't enjoy it, I give it a 5 because I watched it all.

This film, though of a high production quality, I'd possibly have given lower than a 4, but because of the coin spent on it, it gets a solid Four.

The majority of high reviews are all accounts that were created 3 months ago, use generic names, and have only one review (this one). Coincidence? I think not. Beware the acclaim of those involved in production: they are but tooting their own horn.

Honestly, I couldn't even get past the opening scene. The acting is SO bad. Wooden performances of equally wooden dialogue. Not surprisingly, this is a "Christian movie" and like many of it's predecessors it values using actors of the faith over actually talented actors. I couldn't bear to slog through 65 more minutes of horrible acting so I turned it off.

Surprisingly, I managed to stay for the entire duration of this movie, so that's one thing that was going for it, however the production value is very low, looks like shot on an iphone without much direction and retakes. Even the cuts between the scenes is if done by a free editing software.

Surprisingly the acting is above average here, although the chemistry between the different actors is mediocre, as very common to this level of production quality, it does seem like the actors make an effort and care about their acting level and the characters they portray.

One major thing to remember coming in to see this movie is that this is a Christianity movie with ideas rotating around biblical and faith elements (such as the sacrifice of a son and others). If you are not familiar with the bible stories and expecting some hard-core horror movie you will be deeply disappointed. The value of this movie as action/horror is extremely low.

Overall I cannot really recommend this movie, all I can do is commend the actors and the director for producing a watchable movie for such low budget, but it is really a sub-par watch. Exact score: 4.4 / 10.