Brightwood (2023) by Dane Elcar

Director: Dane Elcar

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Going through a rough patch in their marriage, a couple trying to put it behind them with a heated exercise section around a nearby lake in the woods are confronted with the terrifying prospect of being trapped in the area and unable to leave as they’re chased by shadowy figures.

Review:

This was a generally enjoyable and likable genre effort. Most of this is based on the highly effective and trippy sense of atmosphere built up that borders on the nightmarish. The longer the two wander around the woods running into each other, bumping into each other coming up behind the other unexpectedly, being unable to find their directional bearings, coming across strange beings or objects left in their way, or encountering a series of weird sensory phenomenon, these aspects provide a fantastic nightmare-logic setup. These situations are effectively eerie and unsettling while being unnerving enough to let the action present play out as there’s quite a lot of fun to be had once they get to the second half and the scenario gets far more wild and bloody which makes for some fun to be had here.

There are some big factors against this one. Among the biggest issues is the overall repetitive nature of what’s going on here as there’s not a lot of variation found throughout the film. It’s easy to notice that this one falls into a formulaic pattern of the two yelling at each other, encountering something supernatural that prevents them from leaving and continuing the process several times over which shows off the incredibly weak storyline here. Rather than do something with this type of setup of them meeting versions of themselves in alternate timelines, there’s nothing here that hasn’t been seen in this type of storyline setup before so it’s not all that original. These factors are enough to bring this one down somewhat from what it could’ve been based on its positives.

Overview: **.5/5

An overall fun if somewhat problematic genre effort, this one has enough going for it to be highly enjoyable while being let down by some detrimental features despite its positives. Those who enjoy this kind of psychological genre effort or are just intrigued by the concept featured here will enjoy it the most while those who don’t appreciate those factors should heed caution.