If A Tree Falls (2010)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Ever since Tarantino and Rodriguez made GRINDHOUSE, their double-bill tribute to the exploitation cinema of the 1970s, B-movies have been emulating their style. To this end they'll add in effects to make it look like the film is scratched and damaged and throw in old-fashioned 'coming attractions' titles and the like. That's the case with IF A TREE FALLS, an absolutely dreadful addition to the horror genre that comes from Canada.The film's simplistic narrative is about a group of teenage friends who venture out into the woods and are assailed by a gang of masked attackers. Plenty of bad taste stuff ensues, including cheap and lousy gore effects and lots of screaming. The film is near plot less and the acting very poor with irritating dialogue and horrendous shrill screaming and the like. I found the movie to be pretty sleazy and unpleasant but never powerful in the way a film like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was genuinely powerful. Instead it's a complete waste of time.

Not to be confused with the 2011 Earth Liberation Front documentary of the same name, this very low budget horror treads the kind of woodland ground previously visited by the Wrong Turn films, and similar. As far as I can tell, there is no direct reference to any time-line, but the appealingly grainy imagery and hallucinogenic interruptions of colour suggest either a 'found footage' approach (a genre which this film doesn't exploit) or a story set in the 60s/70s (modern day trappings would indicate this isn't the case either). So, the scratchy, stuttering film-work is an artistic decision, it seems. I think it works very well on two levels. Firstly, the approach deliberately obfuscates some of the more graphic moments so you can't quite see what manner of violence is being inflicted on the four hapless travellers, and secondly, it makes things more visually interesting than they might otherwise have been.Such a style of suggestion also helps mask the lack of budget. The six assailants that terrorise the travellers on their road-trip, all wear stocking masks. The rips in the masks suggest some deformity beneath, leading to speculation they are inbred outcasts, or the result of some failed genetic experiment. This is not elaborated on. Still, the effect is successful.The travellers – Brad, Lisa, Will and Vanessa – are hardly flawless, and have their own secrets to tell, but are fairly likable, and certainly don't deserve the bizarre treatment they are subjected to. Describing themselves as 'the ones who can't be found', the attackers treat their victims with a sick mockery of fascination and torture – followed, without warning, by death (at least for most). Whether these outsiders are looking to increase their army by torturing 'normal' people into joining them isn't made clear, but feint rumours of a sequel promise to expand on this. The story may not be hugely original, but the execution of it certainly is, and I would welcome a revisit.

This is another of those super low budget horrors churned out ten to the dozen. The start is a little unsettling but unfortunately that's as good as it really gets. As per most low budget horrors the acting leaves a bit to be desired and you don't really get the chance to empathise with any of the intended victims.The film doesn't offer anything new, young adults are terrorised on a camping trip. You pretty much know what to expect and it's an all round unpleasant viewing experience certainly not one you'd want to watch again. The film is quite disturbing in places but I didn't really see much point in it, it almost seemed violence for violence's sake, unless the message is there are a lot of sick people out there. Yes I think we all know that. You don't get to know anything about the perpetrators which pretty much leaves you in the dark. This isn't the worst film I've seen as it is quite unsettling and does at least hold your interest however it really is just film to be watched by fans of low budget horror. For anyone else this is just a waste of their time.

If A Tree Falls is a throwback to the exploitation genre. A genre that I like for several reasons. Mostly the quality of editing and the use of cheap reel results in a lot of hiss and noises in the sound and a lot of scratches in the picture. A thing that was done here by editing but this flick do has it's problems.If you want to go back to the exploitation genre than you also have to look out for clothing or the way you use the camera. Piercings weren't done back then in the seventies and that's something people will have problems with. But being a low budget the director Gabriel Carrer tried to hide that by using shaky shots when the attacks are being done. And that annoyed me a lot. You never can see clearly what is going on. When he is not using the shaky camera then things happen off-camera. Things not done in the exploitation genre.I found it not scary at all and even not suspenseful. There is a lot of red stuff but gore is left out, I admit, intestines are shown but it was too late. As so many flicks it started so good and brutal before the opening credits but once they passed it moves away from the exploitation genre. What they did in post production with the effects to make it have a exploitation look didn't bother me at all and it worked but why o why did he have to add shaky camera's into this flick.The acting was rather good and believable. this shows that red stuff and some pieces of gore doesn't make a good flick. Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5