Deep in the Woods

I had great expectations for this movie. Since I am a great fan of Dario Argento and his Italian giallos I was thrilled to hear about this french little "giallo-imitation". The beginning with a mother, her child and a murderer is stunning and kept me glued to my seat. After that we are suddenly in the company of five youths (three girls, two guys) in their early twenties and even if they are quite alright for this kind of movie, they are not very interesting.

Things perk up a bit when they arrive to their destination, a beautiful castle somewhere on the french countryside, and meet their host, a rather creepy guy in a wheelchair who makes sexual advances to one of the boys. He has an autistic son who stares ominously throughout the picture and he is quite eerie actually. The movie still looks great and there is a fair amount of tension for half an hour or so.

But after this introduction of almost all of the characters NOTHING HAPPENS for quite a while. We get quite a few scenes with some tension, but no payoff. Since it is a french production, they also throw in some female full frontal nudity in a lesbian love scene for those who like that sort of thing (I don't..). There is a police showing up from nowhere and he disappears just within a few minutes for some reason, only to show up briefly at the end. And the play these youngsters perform is truly abominable. If I had hired these actors I would have asked for a refund!

The final half hour is a little better (when the killings start - they are lensed in a loving, stylish and gory way), but unfortunately the story never gets really exciting or involving. Real suspense is sadly lacking for the most part. There is a great potential buried somewhere here, but apart from the gorgeous visuals and assured directing, it is mostly ignored. The acting is okay I guess (and most of the cast look good!). Clotilde Courau is an adequate heroine, but has tends to laugh hysterically in all the wrong places. It really got on my nerves in the end.

The camera LOVES Vincent Lecoeur but he hasn't a lot to work with like most of the others. * minor spoiler * The only part with some teeth is Axel de Fersen (the wheelchair guy) and actor François Berléand really hams it up entertainingly in that part. And the old horror movie cliché is still valid, a man or woman in a wheelchair certainly has some hidden secrets. *End of spoiler *

After all this you might expect me to dislike this movie. Wrong! I truly enjoyed it for a number of reasons. It's gaudy look and big-budget visuals (it really is a feast for the eyes). One of the first shots is a bird against a slightly cloudy sky and that image is almost worth the price of admission alone. The luxurious and atmospheric score that accompanies all the mayhem is classy and nice. The murder set-pieces that are choreographed with assurance and style. Let's just hope that this director can sink his teeth in a better script next time. Then we might TRULY be able to look forward to a great horror movie, one that even could become a classic within it's genre!

I've seen plenty of horror films in many different languages. Sure, it looks excellent and the direction is good but the script and plot line sucks big time. It doesn't stand out from the crowd one iota. Just 'cos its french doesn't mean its any better than the american dross. Watch something else instead.

Based on the title, DVD-cover image, casting choices and short synopsis, "Deep in the Woods" looks like a dumb and formulaic backwoods slasher/survival horror flick. And for about 50% that is exactly the case, but for the remaining 50% it's a surprisingly stylish, experimental and unsettling Goth-horror tryout. Writer/director Lionel Delplanque does a handful of brilliant things with the cinematography and thought up a few downright and genuinely disturbing aspects (the creepy little kid!), but unfortunately he also wanted to be too "American" when it comes to the rest of the screenplay. The teenage protagonists are utmost annoying stereotypes and they do the stupidest things imaginable, like going into the woods at night after they received specific warning there's a maniac killer on the loose. The deaths/killings are rather mundane and people keep appearing and disappearing without any proper explanation, but that about concludes the bad news. "Deep in the Woods" features a strong opening sequence and the interesting idea to process the Little Red Riding Hood fairy-tale into the script. Five obnoxious wannabe actors are heading out to a mansion the middle of a desolated forest, where they are hired to perform a private theater show to the grandson of an eccentric old man. Upon their arrival, they find out the old man is a crazed wheelchair-bound psycho with oppressed homo-erotic desires, his loyal servant is a perverted taxidermist and the grandson is a silent and autistic but terrifying child with a major trauma. Soon after their (abysmal) live performance on stage, the group find themselves pursued by a lunatic killer in a leather (!) wolf costume. Delplanque manages to insert several suspense-laden moments during the cat & mouse game and the climax, although preposterous and over-the-top, is quite exhilarating. It's very strange that Lionel Delplanque wasn't offered a one-way ticket to Hollywood after this (like his colleagues Alexandre Aja, Xavier Gens and Pascal Laugier), because his competent directing is undoubtedly film's biggest trump. I guess the script was ultimately too weak for him to become noticed.

A group of college aged actors are hired to perform a play at a millionare's house for his son's birthday party. However, they soon start to fall prey to a killer dressed in a wolf suit. Magnificently directed horror flick makes Dario Argento look like an amateur. The whole cast is extremely photogenic and there are some seriously sexy moments. The film also scores some huge scares. However, the script is only average at best. Still, essential viewing for any horror fan.

Rated R; Extreme Violence, Sexual Situations, Nudity and Profanity.

This is a pretty odd little French slasher, that is more concerned about creating an artistic and dark atmosphere than telling a story.

You could say that this movie is taking a bit of a more artistic approach to the genre but unfortunately this doesn't exactly make the movie very interesting or exciting to watch. It does a horrible job at building up- and handling its tension and all of its other horror ingredients.

The film-makers had probably seen a couple of slashers but it doesn't feel like they understood the genre as well. They thought that it was enough to just have a dark atmosphere, throughout the entire movie but this dark atmosphere actually starts to work against the movie. All of the killings are way too dark for instance and it makes it hard to tell what is exactly going on at time. The darkness also ensures that the movie feels pretty tame with its gore, though with a bit more light the movie still could had been a gore-fest, since it has some pretty gruesome killings in it actually.

The story in its core is pretty standard but it loves to see itself as something clever and original. Not that the movie feels pretentious but it's just so that the average movie watcher will find very little original and surprises in this movie, no matter how hard the movie tries at times. You also really won't feel involved with the story at all, or with any of the characters that are in it.

Best thing I can say about the movie is that I didn't hated watching it. I therefore am also going to be quite mild with my rating but still it really isn't a movie that is worth checking out.

5/10

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