Blackwood (2022) by Chris Canfield

Director: Chris Canfield

Year: 2022

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Creature Feature

Plot:

After hearing of a horse robbery, a group of trackers set out into the wilderness to track the Indian responsible, but when they finally encounter her at the edge of a cursed forest realize the local legend of a man-eating Wendigo is true as it hunts them down forcing them to band together to escape.

Review:

Overall, this one had a lot to like about it. Among the better features here is the generally decent ability to mix together the two genres which is pretty apparent throughout here. The general time period and setting give this a likable enough grasp of the Old West while we travel through the small ghost-towns and open plains that are prominently featured throughout here which is all authentic and helps immensely with the immersion into the locale. As well, the whole setup and storyline of the film involving the hunters tracking the thief into the area and slowly coming under the impression that there's something hunting them down but are unable to do so due to the commitments that brought them all together which makes for a far more involved storyline that has a lot to like.

This allows for a fun time here providing for a generally enjoyable series of creature attacks in this Western setup. The opening attack on the travelers escaping through the wilderness and being taken out in brutal fashion is a great way to get this going, while the first attack in the woods on the hunters tracking him down gives a strong idea of the creatures’ viciousness. Other fun encounters in the finale, where the creature appears out of the mist to rip the trackers to shreds or the big confrontations with the creature in its cave hideout while traveling through its dimension offers a fun, gory series of battles that offer up an intriguing mix of folklore with how to combat it and graphic bloodshed in the final resolution over everything manages to generate some more likable factors. Alongside the great creature design, these make for a fun time here.

There are a few issues to be had with this one. The biggest factor holding this one back is the overall sense of padding featured to try to bring this to a respectable running time which results in a somewhat disjointed pace throughout here. That mainly comes about from the behavior of the trackers who are sent after the missing money but instead get sidetracked into following the stolen horse who are portrayed in a stereotypical manner of not trusting each other and snapping at the slightest opportunity for a group that should’ve been over that kind of banter long ago based on their previous encounters together. As well, other scenes including flashbacks to the massacre of her tribe, the attempts at bonding over family tragedies, or the hallucinations of the dead kids serve this one well in establishing characters but just make parts of this feel overlong at points, which end up being the biggest factors against this one.

Overview: ***.5/5

A fun mix of Western and Creature Feature, this one comes off quite fun for the most part and only has a few minor detrimental drawbacks to bring it down for those who aren’t into either factor. This will play more to creature fans than Western although fans of both will have enough to like here, and only viewers who aren’t into either one will be turned off by this one.