Backcountry (2015)

Sorry, this movie sucks

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Up until the last few moments, I was ready to give this movie an 8-star rating. Having seen the end, however, i just can't do that. I even feel that a mere 3-star deduction is highly generous. Why? Because I feel cheated. Not only as a movie buff, but also as a man (and I'm not ashamed to say it). Obvious spoilers ahead.I chose to watch this movie to have a break from all the supernatural / run-of-the-mill thriller-horrors out there. I was glad to have found something that is (loosely) inspired by actual events and isn't filled with shallow teenagers acting annoyingly dumb during the first half hour, until things get going at last (I'm usually happy when they start getting offed one by one). In this movie, we witness the ordeal suffered by a man and his girlfriend while in the woods, and we are made to sympathize with them whenever things take an unpleasant turn. First, the girlfriend makes the mistake of talking to a sleazebag and kindly invites him to stay for dinner - the guy, who says he works as a tourist guide, then proceeds to taunt, humiliate and threaten her boyfriend (however subtly), before provoking him in front of her by picking up her panties and making her take them from him with a smirk on his face. I do not think there's a guy in his right state of mind who would not feel repulsed by such behavior. Luckily, the jerk soon leaves and the movie gets straight to the point, as the couple lose their way and end up in the midst of a sea of trees. It does not take long for a huge black bear to show up and begin hunting them. The boyfriend gets massacred quite gruesomely and the girlfriend wanders through the woods, trying to escape. In the end, she uses the last bits of her strength to crawl towards a group of people preparing to enter the woods themselves. Yes, they were tourists, of course. One of them, a young girl, notices the girlfriend and attracts the others' attention to her presence. And guess who turns around and dashes to save her in slow-motion, like the hero that he is (not!)? Our favorite sleazebag tourist guide, obviously!I'll be honest. I found this movie truly engrossing, and I genuinely felt for both the boyfriend and the girlfriend. I can therefore only applaud the film-makers for having achieved that, but would also love to bash their heads in for presenting us with an ending that is not only counterproductive, but even insulting to anyone that sympathizes with the two main characters. It makes me sick!

I see quite a lot of comments from folks criticizing this movie for it's stupid characters and how their dumb actions only help get them into trouble - this seems to be the main reason for some of the negative reviews. Umm, have you guys paid attention to real life? People do stupid things all the time. It's not necessarily something that, when it happens in a movie, makes the movie less believable.Yes, the main characters did make some questionable choices but those can be explained pretty easily (Alex's ego explains what he does, and shock explains some of Jenn's actions and inactions). Yup, it's that simple and plenty believable because it happens in real life all the time.I thought this was a pretty good movie, that takes a simple premise and manages to create quite a bit of tension all while feeling pretty realistic.Not spectacular, but a solid outdoors thriller that scores 7/10. Kind of held back by how simple the premise was and that it never tried to be more than this. But like someone said in another review, it's based on a true story and it appears restraint was exercised to limit it to that (more or less).

The first half of the movie is phenomenal. Tension, atmosphere, it's all a pretty good setup. You can kind of tell where things are going as the characters make some dumb choices along the way, but you're still interested. Maybe I'm being hard on them because I have outdoorsman experience, and I know just how stupid a lot of their actions are. But it was all very well-crafted, well-shot, well-directed, and well-acted. The second half? Meh. It went from clever, psychological horror to mindless gorefest in the blink of an eye. I guess this sudden shift of time was supposed to be some shocking movie moment, but really I just went "oh, it's this type of movie now? Ok then." And honestly, the movie it set itself up to be in the first half was far superior. Then you're here thinking, "well, since we've decided to be a gorefest, let's just enjoy a super violent finale!" And you'll be disappointed because the ending they go with is so underwhelming. It's like it tried to go back to the psychological thriller it set up in the first place. Just pick a tone! You want to be an atmosphere piece or you want to show people getting graphically ripped apart by bears? Because if you want to be an atmosphere piece, you can't get off on over-the-top bear maulings, and if you want to be an evil bear movie, you have to give us a gory finale. It tried to do too much and is just a forgettable survival film we've all seen before. With a random scene of a bear eating someone alive.

So, yes, this is based - very, very loosely - on a true story. A couple was camping in a remote provincial park in northern Ontario and they were attacked by a predatory black bear. The story in the movie is reversed. In the true story, the woman is killed and the man escapes; in this movie the man is killed and the woman escapes. It would be interesting to know why they reversed that, but whatever the reason they did. I watched this because it was based on a true story, and because every now and then I don't mind watching this kind of movie. But "Backcountry" disappointed me. To me, it seems vastly over-rated.The primary problem I had with this was the relationship between Alex and Jenn (Jeff Roop and Missy Peregrym.) The movie starts with them going on a backwoods camping trip. He wants to go; she doesn't, but she goes along. Alex does a lot of stupid things apparently trying to impress Jenn. "I know my way. I don't need no stinkin' map. I'm not gonna turn back just because we both know there's a wild animal stalking us and I know (even if she doesn't) that it's a bear. I'm not gonna admit that I have no freakin' clue where we are." Why does he feel this need to impress her? It makes it feel as if they haven't been together all that long. Alex seems insecure with Jenn. Sure, he's a landscaper and she's a lawyer. But later on we find out that they must have been together for a while, because this camping trip is Alex's plan for how to propose to her. OK. The relationship just didn't hit home with me, and in all honesty I didn't sense a whole lot of chemistry between Roop and Peregrym.Setting aside my confusion and disinterest about the relationship, there's also the problem that the movie for the most part is dull. Some call it "suspenseful." Seriously? Why? I mean - for the most part, why? Yeah. We know there's a bear around, but we have to go through about half the movie before we actually see it and the actual attack on Alex lasts for about two minutes. It's graphic and bloody - but then it's over. Jenn has to escape and, yeah, the bear is chasing her - but, frankly, we don't see much of the bear chasing her, and when we do the bear's heart didn't really seem to be in the chase. The bear probably would have preferred a nap after snacking on Alex, I suppose. But we had to spend most of the second half of the movie watching Jenn run - and most often we had no real sense if the bear was actually chasing her anyway.Then there was the weird decision to include Brad (Eric Balfour.) Jenn encountered Brad while Alex was looking for wood. Jenn asks Brad (a total stranger she meets in the backcountry) to stay for dinner. And - yeah - Brad's a little weird. You know this movie is about a bear attack, but ... a stranger? In the backcountry? With a knife - which was made clear? There has to be something there, right? Well, no. They have dinner, Brad pees in front of them, has a wee bit of a tense conversation with Alex - then, g'bye. At least, until the very last scene when he's the one who stumbles upon Jenn when she finally makes it out. (Which I somehow knew was going to happen.) I didn't get the point of adding Brad to the story.A truly over-rated movie. (3/10)