Movie Review: The Woods

"You see, Joe? It's absolutely beautiful here!"
Yes, but did you know that the woods are...evil? No? Well, they are!

I like the premise of The Woods. It's 1965, and a teenaged girl, Heather (Agnes Bruckner), is sent to an all-girls boarding school because her mother can't stand having her around. That, and she set the house on fire. Although she actually seems like a decent girl, and I like the actress who plays her. But poor Heather starts hearing voices, having bad dreams, and girls start disappearing. And have I mentioned that the woods are evil? Oh yeah, and the teachers are all in on it, and they suck at hiding it.

Heather makes a friend in a weird girl who can sing, and an enemy in the school biotch. This is something that I don't like about movies. Why are the school bitches always snotty blonde girls? It's terribly cliche! Another problem I had was that the girl, Samantha (Rachel Nichols, from P2) doesn't sound like a girl from 1965. She's not the only one. While the atmosphere more or less feels 1965, the actors, who I like, seem more modern. I never felt that we were in another era.

Another flaw are the scares. The delivery could have been better, but they went about chilling the audience in the wrong way. It's not a complete failure, but it could have been more expertly done. Some of it was too by-the-books.

Aside from the actors, I also like the music, which is more authentic. And the story was still interesting. I wanted to know what the heck was going on. By the end, however, I was a little confused, and had some questions to ask. It was a good thing my mom was watching it, too, because I think she caught more than I did. She explained what she thought had happened...and I was still confused. "I didn't see that!"

"But that's what happened."

"Where was I when this was going on?"

Maybe I'll have to rewatch the ending to fully understand. For the most part it was a good movie, despite all the negative things I managed to point out.

Oh, and Bruce Cambell is in this as Heather's father. He's one of the reasons I wanted to watch it. *sigh* I love Bruce Cambell.

My Grade: B