Director: Jason Berg
Year: 2017
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
Enrolling at a new high school, a troubled teen at a downtrodden class sent out into the woods on a field trip learns that the class has accidentally stumbled onto the site of a sacred Indian artifact that’s unleashed a swarm of supernatural activity upon them and must try to get out of the area alive.
Review:
Overall, this was a fun if troubling genre effort. When this one works, it’s due to the wild and outrageous genre sequences here which can be seen coming quite easily but still remain fun nonetheless. The atmosphere of the woods, with the legends surrounding the forest involving the sacred rock and its connection to the tribe in the area, the series of scenes showing the objects coming for them in the woods that don’t come off successful but have the idea of something evil going on and the suspense-filled scenes showing the objects in the woods coming to life leading to some fantastic kills loaded with cheesy indie-style gore and over-the-top blood spray. With an energetic tempo and a finale featuring some unexpected outcomes for the heroes, there are some nice positives on display here.
There are some drawbacks to be had here. The main issue is that the film, for what’s intended to be a comedy, is just painfully unfunny. Portraying clueless, vapid teenage characters obviously played by adults, obnoxious characters that fit into grossly exaggerated stereotypes that are nowhere near natural people or personas, slapstick comedy gags that are incredibly obvious, expected, and seen coming from a mile away, just plain idiotic behavior that was nowhere near acceptable to the time-period this was set in, and a general disinterest in the terror brewing around them as if they’re from a separate film entirely are just some of the many issues with the comedy here. Since the film thinks this is all hilarious and relies on it throughout here, there are some rather troubling moments here.
On top of that, there are some problems to be had with the pacing of the film which tends to be quite bland for large portions of time. This one takes way too long to get going with the series of extravagant action by the force in the woods that it’s way too long to be interesting for some. While there’s a rapid-fire pacing to the movie with all the jokes and gags that are a part of the film’s first half, after the opening kills very little happens until nearly the hour mark in terms of extravagant killing or activity for the majority of this section. This can lead to an easy period of boredom since very little is happening with the potential to not be quite interested in the comedy on display which all manage to leave this one far below what it could’ve been.
Overview: *.5/5
A generally unfunny spoof attempt that doesn’t have a lot to like even though it’s not completely worthless, this is quite polarizing as the kind of comedy this aims for such a broad spectrum that it’s entirely possible for most to dismiss this out of hand. Viewers who prefer and appreciate this kind of wacky style might be the only ones who appreciate this one since most others are going to be turned off by the unfunny comedy and general lack of boredom waiting for something to happen.
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