First of all, when I saw that there was a $20K budget for this one, I had zero hope. Then when I saw it was set in the woods, utter despair set in. I knew I was in for yet another no-budget painful watch of a few people running around in the woods making no sense.
I am thrilled I was completely wrong!
Now let's get something straight right out front. This film is not going to be submitted for Oscar consideration. But what it does is overcome the limitations of having no budget and severely limited resources to present an entertaining, fun watch.
Here's the skinny: I'm a horror fan, so that automatically endears the project a bit (skews the curve slightly, shall we say). Let's first talk about what the movie does exceptionally well first. The sound is great. The original score music and effects are well done and never muddled. They fit in well and support the on-screen action. The pre-recorded songs are fine (if fairly forgettable, but this is easily forgiven when you take into account that there is no money to spend here!). The only nitpick I have is that I would have loved some ambient sounds (as we're set in the woods at night), such as soft winds, branches creaking, leaves blowing, crickets, frogs, etc. - not to an overpowering level, but maybe barely there to deepen the immersion (but again, that's a nitpick). This is a slasher flick, and so we're all looking for some gruesomely creative kills, and this one delivers. It delivers very well especially again considering they had NO MONEY. It really is impressive what they came up with. The editing is very well done too. You know they couldn't afford a stunt coordinator or a fantastic effects artist, so they shot and cut the film in such a way that you never realize they're perhaps cheating a bit. Again, very impressive. The pacing was just fine as well, which concerned me when I saw the 111 minute runtime. This type of offering typically can't go too far past 90 minutes without you feeling like you should probably get out and help push it across the finish line - not an issue here. It's all practical effects! They did a great job with 'em too! Most well done is that the movie makers maximized what they had and made something that has more entertainment value than many big studio horror movies that come out today.
A couple of the actors were a bit out of their depth here, but nothing too egregious. Also, a dialogue rewrite or two could've helped through some awkwardly delivered lines (probably a combination of that and actor delivery), but there was nothing that severely broke the movie. For the most part, the acting was just fine.
I definitely recommend giving this one a watch with a couple of friends (especially if they're horror fans) and a couple of adult beverages. It's a good time.
Hopefully, someone gives this guy some money, so we can see more of what he can do!
