Timber Falls

Timber Falls is the typical horror movie about teens having big troubles in the woods. Without introducing something we've never seen before, Timber Falls manages to be entertaining for the most part.

Mike and Sheryl are young, traveling couple whose destination is a lake in the woods. While enjoying the beauty of nature, the two meet inhospitable hunters who act weird only to steal $50 from the couple. After this bizarre event is forgotten, Mike and Sheryl spend the night in a tent. The problem is that they are not alone. Somebody spies on them. When Mike wakes up at the next morning, there is no Sheryl. Having realized something is terribly wrong, Mike goes after the hunters, blaming them for his girlfriend's disappearance. They are not the kidnappers though.

Timber Falls is not a waste of time although this storyline is really one of the biggest clichés around. Location - woods, characters - dumb, killers - disfigured or sheriffs. However, the movies has its moments for sure. The first 20 minutes are an almost perfect build-up for any kind of story. There is this beautiful location which helps for the increasing tension although I didn't feel tense. But it's there and it's obvious what purposes it serves. The second part is completely different with the characters being tortured underground. Maybe I didn't fall for that, but still, the first act is quite impressive for something that has been made for over three decades. Director Tony Giglio, although not experienced enough, has shot some good material. The opening sequence for example. We are shown a scared, tortured girl whose friends are supposedly killed, but we never get to see what happens to her. The scene's fast pace leaves the grotesque for the imagination. A very smart move by the creators although it does resemble Wrong Turn a bit.

Now, I do have some remarks concerning the acting. OK, I can live with Josh Randall's weird, never ending screams. I can even bare Brianna Brown's horrible performance in the second act, but I simply hated the villains. From what I understand, Beth Broderick, as the crazy old lady, is considered the highlight of the film. However, I have a completely different opinion about her heroine - Ida. I mean, this woman wasn't believable at all. She is one of the first supporting characters introduced and you could clearly tell she's not what it seems. Maybe, just maybe, that was intentional, but still, it's a terrible moment for the plot development, because you know the main characters will have an unpleasant, second encounter with that lady. As for Nick Searcy, who plays Ida's husband - well, I didn't care about him. He was impersonal and tedious. Besides, his overacting was irritating. Good that there is this German guy who plays a disfigured retard who does the dirty work for the old couple. He's a nice addition to the otherwise boring villains.

Overally, Timber Falls is worth a look. It's flawed, but the final result is rather satisfying. Check it out.

For the life of me I cannot understand why Michael (Josh Randall - "Ed") would bother going after Sheryl (Brianna Brown). All she did the first 30 minutes of this movie was whine and complain.

There is nothing new or original here. It's the same story about inbred mountain folk and their bizarre rituals - this time with a really interesting weapon.

You have the usual torture, and a nice decapitation, but it never really gets to the level we are used to. The ending just doesn't make sense, either.

Go watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre again instead.

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.

I watched this film aware of the critical kicking it had received at the hands of the UK Press. It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it might be .It is Director Tony Giglio's mainstream debut, and you can see the films he enjoyed watching at Film School. The "Hills Have Eyes". "Deliverance", "Misery" "Friday The 13th" all have thematic or visual references .Those who have enjoyed those films will not be disappointed by this .However, therein lies the rub, in terms of originality it is 0/10, as an homage my 6/10 stands.

Aficianados will enjoy the horror staples. Brianna Brown, as toned, wavy haired blonde victim Sheryl is perfect. She screams and moans a lot, and gives us a very enjoyable white lacy underwear moment before some embarrassingly soft porn shots. Heroic boyfriend Mike, played by Josh Randall, is able to take beatings, whippings, brandings, Bear trap entrapment and various other indignities whilst still coming out at the other end as manfully as a hero should. Interestingly although this film has been caught up in the "torture porn" debate, it is Josh who is shown bare chested and writhing much more provocatively than his female heroine.

The cinematography is strong, and the mountain setting in West Virginia beautiful. Although essentially a "painting by numbers" horror plot, the story is lifted by the intelligent performance of Beth Broderick as Ida, the religious fanatic unable to carry a baby full term. One of the problems of the horror genre is that it is impossible to churn out stories each more gory, more horrifying or more titillating than what has gone before. This neither attempts , nor achieves, any of those objectives. That should not disqualify the likes of "Timber Falls" though for a picture soundly made, and well executed.

When a young couple (Josh Randall and Brianna Brown) go hiking in West Virginia, they meet with a local woman named Ida (Beth Broderick) who recommends that they head along the trail to Timber Falls due to the beautiful waterfalls and gorgeous Appalachian views. Despite prior knowledge that the trail is the least frequently patrolled, Mike and Sheryl decide to follow Ida's advice and end up abducted, tortured and fighting for their lives against... oh, that would spoil the fun wouldn't it?

"Timber Falls" borrows a little bit from "Wrong Turn" (in fact, it was mistakenly marketed as "Wrong Turn 2" in Brazil), a little bit from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and a little bit from "Hostel". Unfortunately, it ends up less than the sum of its parts. The best scene in the entire movie comes in the opening segment which features a lot of blood and the rather gruesome way in which a young woman frees herself from imprisonment. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is nowhere near as bloody or horrific. With only one exception that I can think of, the camera subsequently shies away from showing most of what is happening.

The fact that it borrows from other movies isn't what causes "Timber Falls" to fail. The movie fails because the main characters aren't actually that interesting. They spend the first half of the movie making small talk or simply making out with one another, and the second half crying or shouting. You don't get much back-story either, other than some dialogue explaining that one of them is a nurse. Because of this, you can't really connect to either of them and ultimately don't care all that much about their fate.

It's a shame really because you get the feeling that director Tony Giglio has quite a lot of talent. The Romanian landscape (where the movie was actually filmed) is captured beautifully and he fully conveys the gloom of the location in which the two main characters are imprisoned.

As it is, "Timber Falls" isn't a bad movie. It just isn't a particularly great one either. The torture scenes aren't particularly interesting and there's absolutely nothing here that you haven't seen before in other horror movies of this ilk. If you've already watched "The Hills Have Eyes", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Wrong Turn" and all the other scary wilderness/torture-porn movies then this will be an okay rental until something better arrives. If not then try one of the aforementioned movies instead