The Children of the Woods (2024) by Jake Robinson

Director: Jake Robinson

Year: 2024

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

In the middle of a massive conspiracy, a journalist talks with a bunch of locals about their experiences surrounding a group of feral children who live in the local woods who are responsible for a series of strange disappearances and myths in the area which soon includes them.

Review:

This was a rather fun and generally enjoyable feature. The whole presentation here, without a proper introduction and just presenting the situation in the community that presents a gripping story about the fear and paranoia that erupts over the case of the children living there, creates a wholly intriguing starting point that goes along nicely with the group heading out into the middle of the woods. The period setting of everything where it looks like old-school camcorder footage being presented once again sets everything up even further with the period setting as the group being out in the woods with no way to call for help creates a fine setup to things.

Once they've arrived in the woods and it starts to look like something is in the darkness watching them, the atmosphere picks up considerably as the background noises and the discovery of the strange symbols in the environment. That this all rightfully creates a genuine panic and a chance to flee which brings everyone into contact with the masked beings patrolling the woods looking for sacrifices which happens to include them provides a lot of great action and genuinely creepy imagery to give this a lot to like. A lot of the usual plausibility issues present in found-footage films crop up here as well as some general stupidity to continue everything, but it's not enough to deter this one.

Overview: ****/5

A wholly effective and enjoyable found-footage effort, this one has a lot to like about it even though it has a few bits that do hold down in the end. Those who appreciate this style and approach of found-footage features or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while those who aren't into these factors should heed caution.