Beyond the Woods

This could have been a great movie...but it went nowhere. Imagine...walking in the woods...hoping to see a dinosaur...you're ready...excited...here it comes!!!! And then boom..it's a squirrel. But maybe it's a squirrel doing ninja things, prepped to take on another squirrel dojo. Unfortunately, it was just a squirrel sort of standing there, you looking at it...him looking at you. You both know there's nothing cool that's going to happen, but just incase you stare a bit longer. It poops, does what you think is a grin and moves along. That was a lot like this movie.

How this was described as a 'thriller' is beyond my comprehension: a thriller (in my mind anyway) being a film that provides either tension or a cunning twist in the plot. This film has neither - in fact, it was about as thrilling as a snail on valium and moved at roughly the same pace. The dialogue was almost non-existent, the scenery, for the most part, was bleak, and it felt low-budget on every level. Then there was the ending... in my view, if you are going to bore someone silly for the best part of 2 hours, you should, at the very least, have the decency to provide a definitive ending. But nay, nay - we didn't even get that. Very disappointed.

What I couldn't reconcile with this film was why it had a low rating score and yet had several wins in the awards circuit. So I decided to make up my own mind about it. Firstly this is an ensemble cast of 3 main actors who for the most part do a sterling job with a scant dialogue script. They create an air of tension and frustration around a murder and missing person. Steven Roberts plays Andrew Bennett a solitary widower living in an isolated snowbound area close to a forest. Roberts finds a convincing balance between giving off a caring persona and a cruel individual. Jeff Evans-Todd plays Jack Rogers the brother-in-law of Bennett. Prior to his sister's funeral, Jack visits Bennett to support him through his grief. However, finding evidence that not all seems as it is, he has no option than to confront Bennett. The camera work captures the austere landscape and the severe climate which adds to the hopelessness of Jack's situation. This isn't a gun toting, ultra violent action movie but a slow burn that builds the narrative and tension gradually. It's probably more a 5 to 6 rating but I rated it 7 as the low score ratings here are unjustified.

A character in the movie was not the only person tortured- it was torturous watching this movie. Too bad it had potential.

I hope all of the investors of this waste of disk space went broke. They are definitely in the wrong business. A visual wasteland.