Timber Falls

I reluctantly rented this movie after passing over it repeatedly at my local RedBox. From the DVD cover art and that fact that I've rented quite a few low budget stinkers from RedBox, gave me pause to ponder. I paid my 1.07 and brought it home thinking that I was in for another cheap digital, direct to DVD bomb (see Full Moon's "Petrified" for all time worst movie.) Maybe I'd get a couple of "Plan 9" type laughs out of Timber Falls. Boy, was I wrong!! This movie was tight and scary. Sure I've seen this type of plot line a dozen times or so, but what the hell--I love those predictable zombie movies too and will rent them religiously. Timber Falls was well crafted and moved at a brisk pace. It easily held my attention and I had only paused it for one trip to the bathroom. That says a lot, because when bored, I will usually get up multiple times from my living room couch to meander around the crib. The acting was very good and believable. There were a few scenes that I could've done without, but as a whole, the movie had me jumping up and down and wringing my hands like an old Jewish bubby that just found out her grandson married a shiksa. I highly recommend this movie and give it a huge "welcome to my vault of horror."

All the major clichés of the genre seem to get wound up in this movie. A young couple go camping in the mountains of West Virginia and end up in the clutches of a murderous local backwoods (and somewhat backwards) family. How original can this be? Well, the answer is not very. About the only part of the standard cliché that was left out was cannibalism! It's not that the movie was a waste. It actually had quite an eye- catching opening, and the performances were surprisingly good (a judgment which may admittedly be more a factor of my own low expectations than anything.) For a while there's also a pretty fair level of suspense, and good use of the setting.

But the good is outweighed by more problematic aspects to the story. My first question revolved around why this couple even got into this situation. They were warned to stay off all but two trails. Then, when they first ran into trouble on the trail they chose (not one of the two,) why continue on. After an encounter with that first group of backwoods thugs, I think I'd have gotten out of there as fast as I could. The movie ends up going for one of the unfortunate choice to make the backwoods killer family a bunch of religious wackos, for no truly obvious reason that I could see, but crosses certainly abound in this. The movie gets increasing and graphically gory as it moves along, and some of the gore near the end comes across as silly rather than believable. It all culminated in an admittedly unexpected but also completely inexplicable (and somewhat nonsensical) very last shot before the credits begin to roll.

Granted that there are some good things involved with this, but they can't save an unoriginal, cliché-ridden piece of work.

Where to begin with "Timber Falls", as I honestly can't decide whether I should be harsh or mild in my user comment? On one hand, it's an admirably tense nowadays horror flick with brutal gore, lovely filming locations and identifiable main characters, but on the other hand it serves cliché after cliché and it's full of predictable twists. I liked the realism of the character drawings and for once the lead protagonists Mike and Sheryl are okay people that you actually wish to survive their ordeal, but fact remains that you've seen this exact same story dozens of times before and I can't filter out any aspect that is unique. Young couple goes hiking in a West Virginian national park (although for budgetary reasons the film is actually shot in Romania) where they ask the wrong persons for directions and end up in the torture dungeon of a deranged hillbilly family with a deformed son. What else can I add that you can't figure out by yourself? That the kidnappers are disturbed religious fanatics? Nope, that's hardly innovative either. That their deformed adolescent son is a perverted rapist with a nasty scythe for a toy? That's also not a big surprise, I guess… And yet, I would still encourage genre admirers to check "Timber Falls" out, because it's a competently made and unhinged horror flick that doesn't feature any boring moments. The performances of Josh Randall and the beautiful Brianna Brown are more than adequate and TV-starlet Beth Broderick ("Lost", "Sabrina Teenage Witch") clearly had a field day depicting the deranged backwoods bitch Ida. Oh, perhaps one thing that features here and you won't find in similar gore flicks: the ending. But I won't ruin it

OK, this story is not so original. You've seen this too many times. I can name Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn, Misery and… too many to name. The good thing about this movie is that I actually care about the lead characters. It's not like those movies when you say "Kill them all". The violence is well-done and yes, this is not Torture Porn like The Saw and Hostel sequels. The make-up is fantastic and this movie doesn't have those dumb CGI. Great performances by the lead characters and by the killers too. If you want an enjoyable movie with a lot of tension and violence, you should check this out. You won't repent.

Mike (Josh Randall) and his girlfriend Sheryl (Brianna Brown) travel from Virginia to Lake Kimbrabow State Park in West Virginia to spend the weekend hiking and camping in the woods. They ask for directions to the local guard that advises them to follow the Donner Trail or the Willow Creek Bridge; however, Mike meets the local Ida Forester (Beth Broderick) in the crossroad that tells them that Timber Falls has magnificent landscapes and a wonderful waterfall and the couple decide to go to the place. They stumble with the troublemakers Brody (Branden R. Morgan), Darryl (T.W. Leshner) and Lonnie (Ryan McGee) and Sheryl convinces Mike to get rid off the bullets of his revolver. They camp and in the morning Sheryl is abducted while bathing in a nearby lake. The desperate Mike seeks her, and finds a deranged fanatic religious family that needs them to procreate an offspring.

"Timber Falls" has an unoriginal story that I have seen many times: "The Hills Have Eyes", "Wrong Turn", I can count many movies with stories similar to the original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and also "Deliverance", "Misery" plus a collection of clichés of the genre. However, the blending is surprisingly good and works, hooking the attention of the viewer until the very last scene. When I see this type of movie, I try to guess what will happen to the prisoners. Will they survive or die? The gore resolution of "Timber Falls" is also great, but the last scene is absolutely unnecessary. I liked very much the performance of Beth Broderick in a contradictory character. The make-up of Deacon is impressive and the locations are stunning. In my opinion, fans of the genre will not be disappointed with this film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Pânico na Floresta 2" ("Panic in the Forest 2")