Redwood

A couple go into the woods for a camping trip and are told to stay away from the gray zone areas and stick to the green zone. It's pretty simple, really, but you know how these things turn out - in a moment of stupidity and after being warned a couple of times the guy's like, "Hey! I know, let's take a short cut!"...Next thing you know they find themselves in vampire territory.

Very Low-budget horror where the fear is generated by a combination of over-acted emotions and creature screams. You don't see much of the creature and when you do they're extremely lame and cheap. The only thing that saved this for me was that it wasn't a found-footage film. I saw the 6/10 rating so I was expecting something good but I ended up very disappointed.

This is a difficult movie to review because the description along with the opening sequence is essentially one big spoiler for the entire movie...it literally reveals the entire plot. So the actual meat of the movie is basically just a couple going for a long hike in the woods and constantly bickering until they eventually run into the aforementioned vampires.

It's a simple low budget movie but the natural beauty of the redwood forest makes for a very nice looking movie. The acting of the main cast is adequate but nothing special although early in the film there's a scene with a park ranger where the acting is particularly cringe inducing. Also the introduction of Nicholas Brendon (of past Buffy fame) was just kind of weird and poorly written. He doesn't play an important role at all, just kind of pops up out of nowhere to say his lines, act a little creepy, then isn't seen again until the end. On top of that his last line of the movie is cheesy and completely unnecessary, it seems it was included to make sure you knew they were vampires. As in he literally pops up to say "Not another vampire...". We know man, we saw it. Thanks anyway.

The biggest flaw in the movie, aside from completely spoiling the plot 5 minutes in, is the complete lack of suspense. There are no twists here, what you think is going to happen is exactly what happens and then the movie ends which is ultimately just really unsatisfying. So this movie, while it looked nice, just falls flat and honestly kinda lame. It's definitely not scary by any means. Give it a watch if you want to see a well shot but ultimately pointless movie, just don't expect much from it.

Such an interesting idea for a movie but it fails in everything it tries to achieve starting with the dialogue. This script, given to the right film crew could really be a good, creepy little film...But nothing happens for at least 50 minutes. During some parts of this movie, I actually laughed out loud. example; You're in the woods and you see creatures approaching, so what do you do? You hide in your tent for security! COME ON? Why did someone ever think this film would work, as it stands. IT COULD HAVE BEEN GOOD!

Was drawn into seeing 'Redwood' with a cool poster/cover, a very intriguing and creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for the genre as said many times. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

'Redwood' is a film it doesn't do enough with its potential (although there are far bigger wastes of potential in film) and could have been much better. 'Redwood' is very weak with a lot of big problems. It certainly could have been far worse, considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre at best and terrible at worst.

Lets start with the positives. The setting is atmospheric and spooky and 'Redwood' could have looked far worse visually, was expecting a cheap looking film and to me that wasn't the case here.

'Redwood' has some creepy moments early on.

Albeit, there is nothing new here, the film doing nothing fresh with something creative in concept. The second half also takes itself far too seriously and gets incredibly idiotic, a very completely different film feel here. Far too much is revealed too early too, with the opening sequence giving almost everything away that it kills the suspense. The creepiness dissipates completely fairly early on, with the horror, suspense and tension being nowhere near enough. Things start not making much sense and gets silly, with one of the most ludicrous and easily foreseeable endings ever. The acting is not amateurish from the leads but is weak from the supporting cast and laughable for the cheaply rendered and far from threatening vampires.

Further issues are that it was clear that it was written in haste. There is a very rushed and careless feel to the story, especially in the second half where confusion and choppiness can be found in editing and narrative, and the underdeveloped and scrappy script with far too much talk likewise.

Then there is some padding and aimlessness that also gives the film a dragging sensation. The characters are flimsily developed, annoying and bland, the direction lacks focus and the music and sound editing are far too intrusive and obvious. Nicholas Brendan's role and inclusion were pointless.

Overall, weak with not much going for it. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Redwood: A couple hiking in creepy woods, heard it before? This one has a few twists and at least it's not found footage. also there are vampires. Josh (Mike Beckingham) has leukemia so he and Beth (Tatjana Inez Nardone) decide to spend some quality time in taking in the mountain air among the tree of and trails of a National Park. They meet a rather goofy Ranger, Steve (Muzz Khan), later as they make camp they meet a more serious Ranger, Vincent (Nicholas Brendon) who warns them about unspecified dangerous wildlife. He also tells them to keep away from the" Sanatorium" ruins, apparently some folk believe miracle cures are available there ...

The location is spine-chilling at times and there are some great overhead camera shots but too much time is spent on the petty squabbling of the couple as they traverse the park. The frights when they come make up for this to some extent but the vampires look more like inbred hillbillies. Tom Patton wrote, directed and edited this just about passable Horror Film. 6/10.