A Night in the Woods (2011) Reviews

• Missed opportunity

  Danny_G132012-09-25

  It all started with Blair Witch in '99. Since then, 'found footage' and 'handicam'-style films have become all the rage. There was the less-remembered 'Last Broadcast' which actually preceded Blair Witch but did not capture the imagination in the same way the viral marketing method pioneered by Haxan Films managed to. And since those early days, well-received efforts such as Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity have upped the budget but endeavoured to keep themselves to the same principles. So, with these films now extremely common, it takes something a bit special to stand out. Sadly, nothing about 'A Night in the Woods' is special, and it blows several good chances to be a great film, instead ending up a bit of a mess of a production which could have been so much more. The story sees 3 'friends' decide to go camping out in Dartmoor - the complete lack of explanation as to why they are going there is one mild flaw. A 'sinister' (contrived) element of risk is thrown in with a visit to an Irish pub and tales of horror from the area the intrepid 3 are aiming for. And after a very long and dragged-out first portion of the movie we finally end up on location for a night in the woods. This film tries insanely hard to be Blair Witch, in Britain. Just like the earlier masterpiece it's 3 friends isolated in the woods with inexplicable evil apparently descending upon them. And to its credit it does manage to create a semblance of tension approaching the crescendo of the story. But unfortunately the makers decided to throw in a whole bunch of bizarre red herrings which made no sense. They included revelatory back story but unfortunately none of it was remotely developed nor did it make any sense in context of the environment - it did not appear to affect anything. They also included a few moments which were from the eyes of certain characters. The whole point of these films is you only ever see from the view of the camera they are holding. As soon as you get an eye-view from a character who has no camera, it doesn't work. It was, as mentioned, also let horribly down by the unnecessarily long intro - the story took far too long to get going and created the criminal error of making every character dislikeable in the process. That all said it is not the worst cam film I have ever seen, but it was poorly-conceived and lacked sense and cohesion. Its forced and contrived nature let it down horribly, even if the acting was actually half decent. Seen much better.

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• A British 'found-footage' movie that doesn't deliver.

  Michael-Hallows-Eve2012-09-16

  This movie started off well like a lot of 'found-footage' movies, but then it slowly descends down hill from there. It takes at least 45 minutes before anything actually starts to happen, and the movie is only 75 minutes long. The movie is a cliché of most "people who go camping in the woods" type films, and there is a lot of running through the moors and through the woods that gets to be too much after a while. There isn't that much action in it either really, in fact thinking back over it the movie seems to be a complete waste of time as you don't really get any answers to why or what is happening. I felt like I wasted 75 minutes of my life watching this, but I do have to admit the acting was pretty good, which is a shame, as the movie wasn't. So I give it a 2 out of 10.

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• Never really delivers

  victoryismineblast2014-04-16

  Definitely influenced by The Blair Witch Project, this standard "terror in the woods at night" flick starts with a young couple embarking on a camping trip with the woman's cousin in tow. Things and people turn out not to be quite what they seem, however, and as night grows near scary things start to happen. I found this one to have an interesting premise with some mildly interesting characters.The lead up to the actual horror part showed lots of promise, but never really delivered. There were a few interesting twists and turns present as well as a couple of effective jump scares but there was little to no payoff. 5/10.

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• 50/50

  maxwellbruhn19922012-10-15

  Lets start off with the PROS PROS: Many pop out scares (especially if watching on a high volume..), the few black and white night vision parts are excellent in making trees look like people (several times I thought I saw someone hanging from a tree, which is what the Hunter does in this movie) CONS: Too much inactivity, not enough stimulating dialogue, TOO MANY IDIOTIC DECISIONS (even for someone who is scared out of their mind.. One small example is having a flashlight and not pointing it in the direction of sound!) HOWEVER... this movie was pretty nice and really good at making your eyes deceive you, and then scaring you with distorted sound, blurred camera vision and pop out scares.. I honestly recommend watching at high volume... but not too high, and at nighttime. I viewed it during the day at high volume and it got me pretty good in the last 40 minutes of the film... FINALLY: One last thing I should mention is that this movie does tdo a very good job at making you hate the characters, then like them, then hate them again.. so its well worth one watch.

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• Do not watch this dreadful boring film

  Earwicker22012-09-15

  One of the worst films I've ever seen. The camera-work was crass and amateurish, the plot non-existent, the characters unbelievable and totally unsympathetic. The scenario presented was ridiculous. There was even a ludicrous scene in a Dartmoor pub where local yokel Mummerset stereotypes told of ancient myths about horsemen and sang folk music as if this is what Devon folk do in the boozer all the time. In your average Dartmoor pub (I live nearby) you'd get Jennifer Saunders or some tourists. The director seemed to believe that black-and-white shots of ancient trees were in themselves menacing, along with the occasional hoot of an owl or cry of foxes. There was no attempt to create a sense of paganism or witchcraft, or anything else to contextualise the fears aroused during the camping trip. This film was a bad steal from Blair Witch, transposed to an ancient copse on a Dartmoor tor, but with no suspense, no thrills, nothing remotely scary except that anyone had seen fit to distribute this nightmare of filmmaking. It was repetitive beyond belief - just the same old camera shots seen over and over again, and people stumbling around among some rocks - and I kept glancing at my watch wondering how soon it would end. Fortunately I hadn't paid good money to see it in the cinema, but I resented using up one of my monthly rental DVDs after reading a favourable review in a respected British newspaper and imagining the film would be a bit of spooky fun. I recommend that no one should waste time or money viewing this film. It's an embarrassment, and I felt humiliated at having watched it!

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