Backwoods (2008)

Touches You

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Yes, you've seen this many times before, "Hills Have Eyes" and "Texas Chainsaw" being the obvious models (albeit with a lot less gore). City folk road-trip to the country, are attacked by inbred survivalist-type family, etc. etc. But especially a movie you'd find free on youtube or hulu or whatever, this one is at least fast-paced, adequately acted, and so forth. You will forget it pronto, but you don't be bored, unless you're the kind of person who needs a whole lot of nudity and gore to stay awake. OK, seriously, I need to include more lines to post this review? Once you see the movie, you'll understand why there isn't a whole lot to say about it.

Honestly...I have to say..I really liked this movie. I thought it wrenched up the thrills even better than the first. I mean, jump scares literally occur about every five minutes (but not in an annoying way). I thought I wouldn't really care about them as much because they weren't a family, but all of the actors did a great job at making you feel for them. I mean, most of the time, you didn't know their name until they died, but who cares? It doesn't mean the movie wasn't good. Another good note was that ALL the kills were extremely gory and I have to say that more often than not, I was not expecting them to happen when they did. I also had a terrible time trying to pick who would die next...but that made the movie much more enjoyable.

I like horror films to make me jump or scream. This one did. Yes, it's the same basic premise we've seen many times in this type of movie, but the plot isn't really what I watch these movies for. Also, there's plenty of new twists/elements in this one. This movie really had me cheering for the "good guys" - I was glad I'd watched it by myself, as the last 20 minutes or so really had me screaming at the TV, cheering the kids on. I really enjoyed watching this movie, and am buying a copy to share with my horror loving friends. Backwoods was apparently produced for Spike TV, so don't expect to see much in the way of blood and gore. (Needless to say, there's no nudity whatsoever.) Some old-fashioned traps make the chase scenes through the forest somewhat interesting, but I pretty much relied on Haylie Duff's hotness to get me through the film's 80 minute runtime (although I must admit I got quite a kick out of watch a mortally wounded techie put on an amazing show of shooting bad guys without even aiming.) If you're a horror fan, Backwoods is certainly a watchable film, but you won't see anything here you haven't seen before.

And no, not horrible for the violence/gore. This movie is just plain horrible because of the acting, directing, cinematography and far-fetched storyline. I strongly DON"T recommend this film to you because: 1: The story line is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Since when has work been playing paintball in the woods?! 2: Furthering my point of ridiculousness, a cult in the woods run by crazy old women. HUH?? 3: The acting is really bad. So bad, it probably would have been better if Paris Hilton was in it. 4: It's predictable to a high level. 5: It doesn't even meet the standards of a B grade movie which it is trying to be.So don't be fooled by the "Haylie Duff" on the cover because she is probably the only decent actor in the film but she is hardly in it. If you want to see a decent movie about the woods, see "Wrong Turn" which makes a lot more sense and provides a lot more scares than this disaster of a movie.