Director: Marcel Walz
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Getting the scoop of a lifetime, a pair of podcast hosts on local urban legends head off into the woods with a friend of theirs looking for a local legend called the Wooden Devil, but when they start to believe someone or something is in the woods with them must try to get away alive.
Review:
This here was a solid and enjoyable enough effort. One of the more enjoyable elements is the general setup here, for not only their filming of the documentary but the backstory of their assignment. A truthful small-town-sounding story about their belief that he had sold his soul and has now started to haunt a section of the local forest, this is perfectly acceptable fodder to get this going. As well, the stories and evidence about the disappearances from the area serve as a fine enhancement of the local legend that would spawn such an undertaking here, making this one quite worthwhile in the setup.
With that taken care of, the film’s scenes of the group out in the woods mix together a fine sense of playfulness and genuine eeriness. The banter between the girl and the guy where she’s trying to put the moves on him against his knowledge gives this a light atmosphere where the advances are lost on him yet causes scolding looks from her friend. These are infrequent enough not to be annoying and balance out the creepier elements that serve this one quite well, as the abandoned home made of twigs, the memorial adorned with names of confirmed missing persons and the noose inside the tree have solid suspenseful attributes.
The other really enjoyable aspect to be found here is the chilling final half. Graced with the appropriate creepy build-up about the forest not being safe, there are some genuinely terrifying moments with the sight of various body-parts moving when you aren’t focused or least expecting it. Keeping the creature to shadows for the duration of an extended nighttime chase in the woods lit by flashlight with an already terrified individual enhances the scare factor even more by giving off the kind of partial glimpses that later provide a complete picture, which manage to give this enough to hold it up for the most part.
There are a few minor factors involved here. Among the biggest issues here is the strangely out-of-character outburst about the missing friend ruining the potential footage for the shoot rather than being more concerned with their upset and traumatized friend who just went missing when that wasn’t a problem beforehand. As well, a truly problematic issue is the series of twists and turns offered by the finale, oftentimes twisting on itself in a new twist for no reason and simply doing so for no purpose as none of it makes any sense in the slightest. This is confusing in the extreme and ends this on a sour note with all the flaws being packed into the final minutes.
Overview: ***.5/5
Despite managing to feature really all the flaws into the last half of the film, there are a few solid and enjoyable aspects here to make for a genuinely enjoyable time. Give this a watch if these kinds of efforts seem appealing or intrigued by the creative crew, while those who aren’t or turned off by the flaws should heed caution.
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