A NIGHT IN THE WOODS (2011)

Studio:       Tribeca Film
Director:    Richard Parry
Writer:       Richard Parry
Producer:  Allan Niblo, James Richardson
Stars:     Anna Skellern, Scoot McNairy, Andrew Hawley

Review Score: 

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Summary:

Three friends confront the horror of a mysterious local legend while camping in Dartmoor’s Wistman’s Woods. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

September 3rd, 2010 – Brody Cartwright records his girlfriend Kerry Hastings as they prepare for a camping trip in Dartmoor’s Wistman’s Woods. They visit Stonehenge on their way to pick up Kerry’s cousin Leo Fraser. The three of them stop at a pub and hear the tale of a huntsman who carves crosses into the heads of sinners and witches before hanging them. Brody suspects that Leo has a past romantic connection with Kerry and may be more than her cousin.

Brody confronts Kerry with his suspicions about Leo, but she claims that she has not seen Leo in years. Brody instead confronts Leo with footage shot on his iPhone of Leo sneaking into his and Kerry’s London flat shortly before the camping trip. Leo warns Brody to not tell Kerry. Brody threatens Leo.

While the trio gets stoned around a campfire, Brody tells a story about a supposed encounter with “The Huntsman.” Brody goes into the woods alone during the night. Leo reveals to Brody’s camera that he knows Brody was kicked out of Berkley for attacking a woman. Later, Leo and Kerry start making out in the tent. Kerry pushes Leo away when he bites her. Leo then criticizes her relationship with Brody before storming off in search of him.

Left alone, Kerry hears strange noises in the dark. She uses the camera’s night vision to search the nearby trees and finds three nooses hanging from a branch. She hears a scream and runs into the forest while someone unseen follows her with the night vision camera. She is eventually knocked unconscious and the cameraman marks her forehead with a cross. He follows her back to the camp after she recovers.

In the tent, Kerry looks at Brody’s laptop and finds dozens of secret recordings that Brody made of her. A file labeled “A Night in the Woods” suggests that Brody intended to leave her alone in the dark in hopes that she would have an epiphany like the one that he had in the forest ten years earlier.

Something shakes the tent violently while Kerry tries to sleep. Another scream is heard outside in the dark. Kerry investigates and finds Leo crouched in fear and covered with blood. When she reaches out to touch him, Leo attacks her, but Kerry escapes.

Kerry returns to the camp and finds the tents destroyed. Leo swings a fire log at her. Brody appears in a disheveled state and tells her that Leo is not right. He also says that something else is in the woods with them. Kerry does not trust Brody, but he finally pulls her into the woods while claiming that Leo will not follow them there.

Brody and Kerry hear the sound of a shovel digging. When Brody drops Leo’s bracelet, Kerry suspects that Brody is behind whatever is happening. She struggles with Brody before stabbing him and leaving him for dead.

Kerry finds Leo’s digital camera as she continues through the woods. On the camera is a recording of Brody searching for Leo before something unseen pulls him away. Kerry next discovers a tree covered in blood before coming upon a shovel with its spade planted in the ground. She runs after hearing Leo call her name. She eventually runs into Brody’s body hanging upside down from a tree. Leo screams Kerry’s name once more before Kerry is attacked by someone unseen. An epilogue states that none of the three bodies were ever recovered.

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Review:

“A Night in the Woods” has something that most other “found footage” thrillers do not have with its fully developed characters and strongly defined relationships.  What it is missing is an original or frightening story that would put these personalities towards a good use.

Scoot McNairy of “Monsters” and “Argo” plays Brody, which is a name only one “o” away from accurately describing his personality, too.  He is cut from that cloth of “found footage” archetypes that cannot put down a camera no matter what.  In his case, however, he has a good reason.  Sort of.  Brody is more than a little bit creepy, as well as a wee bit insecure.  Later in the story, it is revealed that Brody has a fetish for surreptitiously capturing his girlfriend Kerry on film partly because he is distrustful, and partly because he is unhealthily obsessed.  A camping holiday in Wistman’s Woods of Dartmoor might be just what the doctor ordered for the couple’s still gestating relationship.  Or it would be if Kerry’s cousin Leo were not tagging along.  Brody is certain that Kerry and Leo have had a romance in the past.  That the pair is related only intensifies that awkwardness.

The setup then backs the movie into a corner before the plotline is fully underway.  The legend of the haunted forest where the trio intends to pitch their tent virtually mandates that potential victims be either witches or sinners.  Since neither Brody, Kerry, nor Leo are eligible as the former, they have to qualify as the latter.  This detail requires the primary players to display characteristics of arrogance, deceitfulness, and abject maliciousness.

Which is where “A Night in the Woods” stings itself with a double-edged sword in the characterization department.  Suspicious activities, snarky commentary, and authentic emotions ranging from vengeful to scorned create dynamic group tensions and a triangle of saucy personalities ripe for daytime television.  At the same time, that skin of contemptible behavior distances the characters from having a meaningful connection with the viewer.  A “found footage” movie finally has characters carefully realized through strong performances, yet they are all given one too many unlikable traits.  The portrayals make it a challenge for the audience to decide who would be best to disappear into the woods first.

The greater hole in the movie’s mythology is that it is vague to the point of being uninteresting.  Resident drunkards at the local tavern toss back pints and fill the campers’ ears with a brief tale about “The Huntsman,” a mythical figure who carves crosses into the foreheads of sinners and hangs witches from tree branches in the shadowed forest.  Those scant details are the extent of his motivation as well as that of the storyline.

With that rough template in place, the film explores the romantic relations amongst its three leads in an interesting, albeit melodramatic, first half of broken hearts and jilted lovers.  The second half then disintegrates into a rambling assemblage of bright white night vision shots showcasing nondescript rocks, tree branches, and forest floors.  Most of that time is spent through squinting eyes trying to see what is taking place.  The remainder of those minutes is occupied with the realization that numerous other “found footage” films set in the woods have already told the same tale in a much more cohesive fashion.

When it is all said and done, “A Night in the Woods” has only upturned palms and shoulders against the neck to offer as an explanation for its existence.  Fleshed out characters are unbalanced by an unoriginal storyline that borrows liberally from superior entries in the sub-genre.  And a talented cast is misspent in a cut-and-paste film that is as irrelevant as it is derivative.

Review Score:  40

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