gallifreyent Review of Lost Woods

Lost Woods (2012)

A Monster Movie About Friendship and Family (possible spoilers)

[6/10 · 23 July 2015]

Consider that this film was made for less than what other productions spend on catering, it is a decent effort from what is clearly a family business (just read all the end credits). The rudimentary special effects for the creature are balanced against a beautiful location and able camera work. The characters are not one-sided, and there's even a fair amount of character development as the story progresses. The relationships in this close-knit group of friends and relatives and a pet are the core of this story, and the external threats are secondary. The opening credits with the graphic novel style are a nice touch. The company might have been wiser to do all the creature scenes the same way. There are a number of strong spots where they went against the trite "standard creature vs. group of friends" clichés, and this deserves some respect above other entry-level productions. Examples: there's only one female, but she's regarded as a friend, not a target for the men. I would knock a point off that because she had to cook and call the men to dine as though she were the house mother. The "science nerd" is not an inept guy who can't socialize. In fact, this is a rare character who obviously works out and has a nice tat, truly swimming up-stream in horror movies. The "dumb guy" isn't dumb at all, just very open and unpretentious. The "scared guy" is not a total flake as in other films. The "leader" is calm and confident and actually knows how to get around outdoors. Spoiler: There's no dog violence, thank goodness! The last time I saw a horror flick with a dog that survived happily through the whole thing, it was an early film from The Asylum, and the production values were not even as good as for this film. There were a few very minor editing problems where the story jumped, but later conversations filled in the missing information. Pacing was also uneven. Still, this is an ambitious film by so many newcomers, and I don't think it deserves a bashing. One reviewer surely didn't see the same film I did, else he would not have said it was about teenagers. Hopefully, any future projects will have better research and props. One does not have to go to Honduras or anywhere else outside the US to get a nice machete, and it seems visually odd that the person who has that cannon of a sidearm and some large blades would not also have a more imposing rifle. The sight of burly men holding tiny rifles is nearly comical, and that includes the rude men who claimed to own the land. I think this company did a passing job, and I hope they will learn from the experience and give us something more in the future.