Beyond the Woods

I was almost instantly impressed with the acting in the opening few minutes of this movie. 7 friends gather in a farm house to reminisce about old times. The actors seem like genuine people and real friends, there is some great character work by the actors and all seem very real. One may seem a little OTT , but that's down to him being written as a typical jerk. The premise is good. These friends more or less trapped in this farm house with a mysterious sink ( or should I say stink ) hole opened up two miles away, that maybe spewing up more than nasty smells. Once the friends start to get menaced by a mysterious presence it starts to go down hill. It feels like the writer, who also directs, doesn't seem to know where the story and this antagonistic force is going. It's powers seem undefined , and seems to be able to do what ever the plot demands and has seemingly Omnipotent abilities . Yet we have a dude dressed as Skeletor walking round with an axe. Lot's of questions are raised but very few are answered. It's light on actual horror and gore aswell. The character work is great and cinematography, lighting etc all looks to a good standard . The movie does have a somewhat cheap feel to it too. The man behind this has talent as a director but maybe should work of someone else's script . The cast are top notch and does make you care about the characters . Overall good potential, but lack of experience behind the camera shows

I was actually pretty impressed with this film. I was expecting more of a floppy script and cheesy acting but they had a good bunch of actors and the film had everything you would want in a drama, horror film. A top quality movie to watch on the weekend.

Actually good relationship and friendship unraveling drama disguised as a horror movie. Definitely not something you'd want to watch for a cheap scare.

Beyond the Woods was apparently crowd funded so we know it is a micro budgeted effort. Even so, director, writer and, producer, Seán Breathnach, has cobbled together an eminently watchable film full of believable characters.

It is another entry in the group of friends in a cabin the woods genre though the Irish setting and cast give it a distinctive twist. Oh, and there is the ever-present sulphuric stench from a nearby sinkhole, the pungency of which the cast do well in conveying to the viewer.

We are 25 minutes into the movie before anything actually happens. Cinematographer, Paraic English, is up to the job though and the viewer remains engaged. In fact the cinematography is a definite strength of the film. My one small quibble is most evident during this early period. The audio is muffled at times.

Jump cut shots, now you see me, now you don't, are used sparingly but to good effect and mark the gear change from a sort of Big Chill feel into horror.

Whilst mentioning horror, the film is strong technically and in terms of cast but not so much in terms of actual horror. It's too talky to be terribly scary. And the horror tropes are perhaps the main victims of a very tight budget. Whilst acknowledging all of this, Beyond the Woods is not without its occasional but moderate moment or two.

Marissa, Ruth Hayes, creates an unnerving moment when she attempts to escape the holiday house but all roads see her returning to it. Perhaps if Breathnach had done more of this and abandoned the monster, etc and opted for frights created by using subtly and filmic techniques à la Cat People it would have been scarier and avoided the budget constraints.

All in all, Beyond the Woods deserves an audience and those involved with it bear watching in the future.

There was an actual story which I didn't expect, and it's not terrible. The issue is it takes up the first two thirds of the movie and it's more soap opera than horror. When the horror kicks in it's a bit predictable. Overall, it's worth a watch, but don't expect quality cinema.