Wilderness (2006)

That was an excellent one.

Really Surprised!

Great Film overall

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

As with any mid budget, British horror film it is contractually obliged to star either Sean Pertwee or Danny Dyer; here we have Sean taking some young offenders out on a weekend to get to grips with nature on a remote Scottish island. Things are bound to go wrong.Now I should point out this is a small film; and it is happy to be what it is. There is no explosions, fireworks, monsters, statements on the human conditions or clever twists. It is a very simple thriller with the rough edges being obscured by British grit.When I saw the cover I expected this to be gruelling and hard hitting. It really isn't, I would happily watch this with my dad.There is some solid acting, some of the characters are interesting and because it plays low there is real tension as the characters try to escape.Most importantly it doesn't outstay its welcome. There is only so long you can watch someone run around a forest scared before you lose interest. The director got it spot on time wise.Good solid, kick about the park, horror flick.

I'm not really the outdoors type. Spending a weekend living in a tent, eating beans out of a tin and shitting in a hole I've had to dig myself sounds like pure hell. I've been to Leeds Festival and that was enough. I only went to Scouts once so that my mate Si could get a badge for bringing a friend. Camping in the woods seems horrific before you've thrown in the psycho-killers and mutants that dominate the wilderness survival sub-genre. Opening like a gritty seventies borstal movie, low-budget Brit-horror Wilderness evolves into a deliciously bloody fusion of Deliverance and Lord Of The Flies. Following the suicide of one of their fellow inmates, a group of teens from a young offenders institute are taken to an uninhabited former military island for a spot of team building. Unsurprisingly, they're not alone. Pursued by a psycho with a crossbow, what begins as a lesson in life skills quickly descends into a battle for survival.A typically British take on survival horror, Wilderness avoids the well-worn inbred slasher cliché, preferring an antagonist that's much closer to home. There's a reason why they're under attack, and as the survivors are picked off one by one, they begin to turn on each other as they look for someone to blame for the perilous situation. Soon they're fighting among themselves in a desperate bid to make it off the island alive. Laden with gore and wince-inducing death scenes (like when the boys' adult supervisor is eaten by a pack of dogs), Wilderness is a refreshingly entertaining movie. Brutally realistic, it amps up the institutionalised horror of movies like Scum to new levels. A tense, atmospheric outing into the dark side of the countryside, it sure ain't no boy scouts picnic.

Made in the UK, be sure of that, the slang and the accents are delicious to hear. that's already a big forward. If you aren't regular with slang or cockney than you sure will need your subs. So far the only problem, because this movie digs it all. It starts off with some juvenile delinquents having some trouble with the fagots in their cell. They misuse them and make a big laugh of them. But then one of them kills himself, for punishment they have to go to a abandoned island to learn to work with each other, but they are not alone. Misery starts and suddenly people die. it's a kind of predator, you never see the killer or only in disguise but in a military way. The killings are brutal and very gory. The effects are well done and the atmosphere throughout this flick is depressive. It's nice to see that after the Hammer period England is back on the map with this survival movie. A must see!

"Wilderness" is a really good and enjoyable slasher, with a few minor problems.**SPOILERS**Entering into a correctional facility, Callum, (Toby Kebbell) soon finds that Steve, (Stephen Wright) and his gang, Lewis, (Luke Neal) Lindsay, (Ben McKay) Blue, (Adam Deacon) and Jethro, (Richie Campbell) are determined to make his life rough when he strays out-of-place. When the tormenting gets out-of-hand, correctional worker Jed Wyler, (Sean Pertwee) is assigned to take them all on a correctional trip to a small island off the coast. Though originally thought to be uninhabited, they find Louise Daw, (Alex Reid) and her charges, Mandy, (Lenora Crichlow) and Jo, (Karly Greene) are also on the island. Suddenly, faced with the fact that a serial killer is on the island, they are forced into defending themselves from his advances and his pack of ravenous attack dogs. Realizing the deaths are due to a father seeking revenge for his son being bullied to death by their antics, they try to find a way off the island alive.The Good News: This was a really enjoyable and entertaining slasher. One of the better aspects is the fact that the setting for this one is really great at deriving an incredible amount of atmosphere from the location. The forested setting, especially early on during the hike to the campsite or the initial attacks, the setting here is just fantastic and looks absolutely great. The woods, which here is portrayed as quite foreboding and imposing, almost hiding an impressive secret that really takes the film up a notch. That when it gets out of the woods, either up in the grass-covered hills near the mountaintops or the rocky coasts, it still manages to remain full of fear and dread, which is a great plus and helps the film immensely. What also adds nicely here is the fact that the killer here is one that utilizes quite a lot of smarts and ingenuity, and several scenes of him stalking around the forest wearing camouflage to blend in is a fun bit to see and an especially good image. The film scores nicely for it's big action scenes as well, where the trained dogs are used to great effect here. Their attacks are brutal, fun, exciting and quite thrilling, and their numbers advantage and ruthlessness make for great moments here. The first attack at the camp is awesome and really fun, which leads into the extended forest chasing which is really good. The cabin ambush and the attack on the beach, both of which are a lot of fun due to involvement with the killer as well, are really great, high-impact scenes that score heavily. These here are very worthy of being the highlights of the film, as all of them are really good and just perfect. The last good plus here is the really bloody and graphic kills on display. While not overly original, they are messy enough to satisfy the gore-hounds. We get a variable amount of extreme, close-up body mauling, arrows shot into chests or stomachs, a foot ripped off with a bear trap, slicing over pretty much every available spot, a slit throat and a body set on fire, among much more. These here are the film's best points.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of flaws to this one. One of the biggest ones is the fact that the film's early prison scenes here have really little to no bearing on the film and easily could've been taken out of the film altogether, or served up shorter in the form of flashbacks. Watching all the stuff that's presented, and the amount of time we're there is really quite long, even though we're getting all the characterizations down and more. That they set up the incredibly lame and just quite stupid reasoning for the killings to begin is another source of contention, and the film's other major flaw. It's just not that good and not really that strong enough to support a rampage of such extremes, which is what this one tries to pass off here and the scenes where it comes out is terribly lacking, as the set-up for this one doesn't work at all. These here are the film's problems.The Final Verdict: With some good points in here and a couple of minor flaws, there's a lot to like with this one and it comes off rather well. Give this one a shot if you're into the style of these kinds of slashers or find this one interesting while those who are turned off by the flaws should look elsewhere.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and a clothed Sex Scene