Redwood

I'm not sure what is worse in this film, the story or the acting. Both are fairy bad but I think the acting might just edge it because in some parts it is nothing short of terrible, to the point I wasn't sure if this was meant as a joke. If you made this or was in it and watched it after completion and thought you had done a good job you really need to consider another line of work. I gave it 3 stars out of sympathy and think I was over generous, don't waste your time with this, it's poor.

Wow...

Ranger Steve and his bizarre accent should have been a warning that this wasn't going to live up to the "Must Watch" billing this movie gives itself.

Firstly, our protagonists, Josh and Beth are easily the most toxic couple ever to share a screen. Sadly, neither one of them starts the movie as particularly likeable and both of them roll down hill from there. Clumsy exposition takes the place of believable character depiction as the writer seemed intent on reminding the viewer *EVERY THREE MINUTES* about Josh's cancer diagnosis. Nothing this pair do throughout comes even close to being understandable from the perspective of a regular, thinking human being. This pays off in the worst way imaginable at the conclusion, where I was left scratching my head about anyone's motivations. Also, Beths flip flopping between her American and Irish accents is distracting at best, mind numbing at worst.

The first two thirds of the runtime is a painfully slow trudge up a hill with this pair, where they complain at each other incessantly. I found myself hoping they might stumble upon a hungry grizzly bear who might put us all out of our misery. The third act finally remembers that this is meant to be a vampire movie and just drops them in to no apparent effect. Seriously, take the vampires out of this movie and it has zero impact on the plot other than taking away the painfully predictable post credits scene.

Feels like it was written by a high school child, but probably less entertaining that it would have been if it was.

Garbage. Avoid. Petition for its destruction.

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.

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

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.