If a Tree Falls

Ever since Tarantino and Rodriguez made GRINDHOUSE, their double-bill tribute to the exploitation cinema of the 1970s, B-movies have been emulating their style. To this end they'll add in effects to make it look like the film is scratched and damaged and throw in old-fashioned 'coming attractions' titles and the like. That's the case with IF A TREE FALLS, an absolutely dreadful addition to the horror genre that comes from Canada.

The film's simplistic narrative is about a group of teenage friends who venture out into the woods and are assailed by a gang of masked attackers. Plenty of bad taste stuff ensues, including cheap and lousy gore effects and lots of screaming. The film is near plot less and the acting very poor with irritating dialogue and horrendous shrill screaming and the like. I found the movie to be pretty sleazy and unpleasant but never powerful in the way a film like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was genuinely powerful. Instead it's a complete waste of time.

Whoever wrote, filmed, directed, especially casted, and then watched this after making it and thought yeah this is great.... needs to be locked in a mental institution for mental illness. Complete garbage and a waste of everyone's time.

A film with no redeeming features, The acting.....isn't, the characters are unlikeable, but worst of all is the pacing- there isn't any. Virtually every scene is at least about twice as long as it needs to be. Thrill!, as people walk down a road in slow motion. Be enthralled by the witless character's tediously mundane conversations. It might have made a 25-30 minute short if they took all of the extraneous padding. Not a good one though.

Nothing about this will entertain, interest, or horrify you. Oh, it threatens to be more lurid than it can ever- or even try to-deliver. But it's as if the director's sweet old grandmother kept popping in during the editing process. She should have done me and him and the world at large a favour and told him not to bother.

The style of 'If A Tree Falls' marks it out as something different from the oft-tread woodland slasher genre. Stuttering camerawork, grainy inserts, imagery that momentarily obfuscates what we are seeing. Certainly Gabriel Carreris a director determined to make a mark - and most of the time, he succeeds very well.

The characters in Ry Barrett's story, Brad and Lisa Carpenter (played by Barrett and Jennifer De Lucia respectively) and friends Will and Vanessa (Daniel Zuccala and Breanne TeBoekhorst) are well-played and fairly likeable, although they are hardly flawless. Such depth, it could be argued, makes them more interesting to watch. Certainly, we, see them suffering at the hands of masked assailants and are moved by the motiveless brutality of it all.

A slasher film with a difference, I found 'If A Tree Falls' thoroughly entertaining in a violent, bloody kind of way. Directorial flourishes ensure that visually, things are always interesting. My score is 8 out of 10.

This is another of those super low budget horrors churned out ten to the dozen. The start is a little unsettling but unfortunately that's as good as it really gets. As per most low budget horrors the acting leaves a bit to be desired and you don't really get the chance to empathise with any of the intended victims.

The film doesn't offer anything new, young adults are terrorised on a camping trip. You pretty much know what to expect and it's an all round unpleasant viewing experience certainly not one you'd want to watch again.

The film is quite disturbing in places but I didn't really see much point in it, it almost seemed violence for violence's sake, unless the message is there are a lot of sick people out there. Yes I think we all know that. You don't get to know anything about the perpetrators which pretty much leaves you in the dark.

This isn't the worst film I've seen as it is quite unsettling and does at least hold your interest however it really is just film to be watched by fans of low budget horror. For anyone else this is just a waste of their time.