Curious about a local legend, a group of students decides to investigate a famed serial killer said to live in the local woods and begin shooting their documentary about him, only to realize there's a real killer in the woods far more dangerous than they expected and must get out alive.
This was a fairly intriguing if somewhat flawed indie slasher. Among the bright spots here is a rather solid and engaging throwback-style setup that provides this one with the proper tone and feel for this kind of film. The perfect small-town type of story here focusing on the backstory of the kid who went crazy on the kids who bullied him, forcing him into the sanitarium to pay for his crimes, and then escaping to go on a rampage against the citizens makes this appropriately old-school as a nice bit of information on the killer. The idea of tying this into the series of disappearances and missing persons' cases over the years involving the people that are known to be attacked and missing through family reports and missing persons' cases as well as the series of random passersby that get knocked off make everything here settle into a solid enough story to get the filmmakers' attention to do a story on. This gets them into the woods to investigate everything while also making the locals noteworthy for their reluctance and warnings to keep away. That provides a solid setup so that the series of stalking and encounters that take place with the killer loose in the area. The initial series of indie stalking and quick-shot ambushes come into play here with the series of random figures brought into the film to serve as a quick death including the couple who get struck with car trouble on the side of the road, a resident who they try to interview, or the hikers out in the woods looking for a secret stash they believe is in the woods. These set the stage for more involved and engrossing setpieces including the series of attacks in the woods chasing around the group who go out wandering around looking for pieces to their project. Featuring some effective practical effects and creative setups to handle the carnage on display with the hulking killer chasing and slaughtering them through the woods, giving it some likable enough features. There are some issues here holding this one back. The main overriding drawback is the obviously apparent and egregious length here as there's no earthly reason an indie film of this caliber should run over two hours. There's a lot of extra padding here, either letting scenes run on way too long, have no purpose for being there other than to provide a cameo for someone of supposed importance to sell the film on or letting multiple scenes play out that could've been combined into one without letting excessive moments play out. It feels its length quite easily with these unnecessary features and desperately needs a trim to get to a more reasonable and appropriate old-school setup that's being attempted here. That would also be fine in eliminating some of the cliches present here, which tends to become quite apparent early on, making for a not-as-shocking finale as it thinks it is when it drops a revelation coming from a mile away that's supposed to be clever. Overall, these are what manage to hold this one back.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, a sex scene, and drug use.
