Director: Libby McDermott
Year: 2013
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After emerging from the woods, the police of a small Appalachian town investigate the series of victims that come from the location which alerts them that a dark secret involving the trail might not be the figure they thought and have to rely on a series of surprising revelations to bring everything to light.
Review:
Overall, this was a pretty solid and enjoyable indie effort. Among the brighter features here is the intriguing story that provides quite a fun entry point for the film by bringing together a simple setup with a connection to local folklore. The whole setup here, involving the bodies being found in the woman naked with plenty of evidence of strange activity going on but little clearance on the culprits or purpose behind everything, gives the film a strong mystery ta the beginning half. The investigation here into the strange incidents and seemingly normal accidents involving the series of strange reports found involving the residents who get involved in the proceeding events that invokes the local legend about the hunter in the area is quite nice overall.
This setup enables the film’s recapping of what happened to the girls to become quite fun with what transpired here. Getting a pretty in-depth look at what’s going on with their journey to the woods, their struggles in exploring the area, and the hints about a dark secret they share with each other featuring how one of them is heavily scared and wounded but seemingly based on an outside incident that they’re working to overcome, this all sets everything out on a fine note before getting the hunter’s arrival and uneasy nature creeping out the girls with it eventually leading to an inevitable stalking through the woods to make everything make sense. This is quite dark and brutal with how it all takes place in the isolated woods for a lot to like about it.
There are some light drawbacks to be had with this one. One of the main issues is the rather slow pacing that can take a toll on those wanting to get to the horror with the majority of the first half here dealing with the investigation of what’s going on rather than the stalking and killing of the main couple. Featuring scenes of the police officers undergoing the investigation looking into the truth while also showing the girls going through the woods on their trip, this all holds the confrontation with the hunter back until an hour into this and then waits even further before bringing the unhinged nature of it all to the forefront of the film. That’s way too long for a film of this kind and can lead to a generally frustrating viewing waiting for something to happen.
The other issue here is the rather bizarre reasoning and motivations at play for the girl to get under the hunter’s skin and set him off on his rampage against them. The whole time they’ve been around him both have commented about his eerie and unnatural presence making them feel uncomfortable even after several encounters so there’s already a precedent for him not being easy to be around. To then antagonize him purposefully under the guise of giving him a show with a clearly unreciprocated lesbian make-out session in front of him that makes no sense why they would go through with it given how they felt about him previously. As well as bits about the low-budget origins coming through from time to time, these factors are the main drawbacks of this one.
Overview: **.5/5
An overall enjoyable enough indie genre effort, this one manages to come off quite well even if some of the flaws are quite prominent and hold this one back from what it could’ve been. Those who are fans of this style of genre effort or are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like about it while most others who aren’t into these factors should heed caution with this one.
This review ran as part of our 2023 Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out the rest of our month-long celebrations including various reviews and interviews:
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