Lady of the Damned Forest

This Spanish horror film, which goes by its Spanish title 'La Dama del Bosque Maldito' on Netflix, has a fairly familiar premise. Three couples head into the wilderness, in order to get to their destination they must pass through a forest. Bad things will happen.

On their first night they set up camp and one of the women tells a story. A long time ago there was a peasant village in the woods; one day a group of men forced themselves on a young woman. She got away from them but died after tumbling over a cliff. So the story goes her assailants were turned into animals and her vengeful spirit punishes any man who enters her domain. Inevitably thing start going badly for the hikers.

'Danger in the Woods' can be considered a horror genre in its own right; the threat may be animal, human, something unseen or something supernatural... here it is the last of these options. The central story is decent enough but could have been improved with better dialogue. Things get off to a good start; we even get some nice scenery as a bonus. Unfortunately once things start going bad for the characters the film goes downhill fast; the special effects are distinctly bargain basement and detract from the story. The acting isn't the best although given what they are being asked to perform in one can't be too harsh. Overall this is far from a must see unless you are a connoisseur of cheesy, low-budget horror.

These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.