Director: Dale Fabrigar
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
After her friend goes missing, a woman joins her friends on a trip into the woods to investigate and find answers to what happened, but when they eventually stumble upon the purported Jersey Devil living in the woods they have to escape from the creature and another threat in the woods.
Review:
This was a rather fun and enjoyable creature feature. Among the stronger aspects here is the fun setup that provides this one with a rather intriguing setup. The cold opening featuring the accident that fuels her obsession with finding her missing cousin and the strange animal she claims she saw at the time is a good start, especially connecting this with the stories and reports about the creature living in the area. The various sightings told about it over the years and how it fuels the film going forward where everyone they come into contact with is aware of it gives this a nice starting point into the creatures’ existence. Likewise, the search to find her and the strange hiking mission they undertake to go into the woods looking for her cousin which turns into a survival thriller involving them coming upon the shady hiker and the mysterious scientist living out in the woods creates some intriguing aspects to this one as it goes along.
Aside from this, the film also manages to feature some rather enjoyable creature action the appearance at the crash site at the beginning is a nice starting point where its hairy legs and massive claws are the only brief hints shown as it slashes one of the victims and drags another away in a haze due to the injuries sustained in the accident. Likewise, the later brief ambushes sequences out in the woods are quite fun, with it appearing on the trail of a victim looking to find the missing group and attacking, the ending ambush in the woods of it chasing down and hunting the last remaining survivors through the woods have some rather likable elements here with the night-time setting and dizzying woodlands location providing some enjoyable aspects. Along with the generally imposing creature costume that looks rather good and a fun pace that’s never boring, this one has a lot to like about it.
There isn’t much to dislike here but it does have some issues. The biggest factor with this one is the film turning away from the creature feature setup to become a showing about the family vengeance that’s a more prominent part of the second half. Hen the creature’s origins are revealed and it turns away from that kind of film into more about the strangers holding them hostage, it becomes almost comical how ludicrous this section of the film actually is including numerous scenes involving characters knocking each other out with the butt of a gun to get the upper-hand or chaining them up only to escape moments later. The explanations for everything taking place aren’t any more enjoyable and this part of the film is a bit of an issue. As well, combined with the obvious low budget here that comes through at the most inopportune points for the night-time sequences being too dark to tell what’s going on, these here are the main drawbacks.
Overview: ***.5/5
A generally enjoyable creature feature, there’s a lot to like here that holds it up over its few issues that somewhat turn this away from the creature feature it could’ve been. This is a rather enjoyable outing for those that enjoy this kind of genre feature or are fans of the creative crew while most others should heed caution with this one.
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