sveetvred
Wow, talk about captivating...that's just what agnes bruckner is in this film...and with a strong supporting cast.thanks to comet TV, my fave channel now, i'm getting to watch some pretty obscure stuff.this film kept the suspense level high, with not much horror involved. which was a good stable sold mix.i felt the ending was a bit too 'easy'...i mean, i was trying to figure out after the movie ended if the witches wanted to be killed, or they were trying to sacrifice the main character.so, yeah it was a little disappointing. i felt there should have been much more intensity during the ending conflict.especially as the main witch lie there waiting to be axed and says 'so gifted'. this threw me way off as to what was happening. and the main character's mother...was she a witch also? idk.even more confusing...the trees weren't burnt down. does that mean the witches are now back in the woods? i thought that's what they were trying to escape from in the first place.as i said, then ending was full of contradiction, at least my own mind.but a good flick nonetheless.enjoy.
venusboys3
Yes, The Woods looks great, has decent performances... and, at its core, is a nasty little story about haunted trees. A dark little fairy tale. Too bad the director/writer/editor/whoever felt like they needed to toss in loads of misdirection and 'red herrings' to make the story seem more complex than it really was. It ends up being a mess... a pretty mess... with Bruce Campbell in it... but still a mess. Yes, it's obvious what's going on... no, I wasn't confused... but I was annoyed that the folks making it kept TRYING to confuse me. The story isn't deep or complex... stop trying to make me think it is.I think the people who made this should be sat down and force fed viewings of Rosemary's Baby and Suspiria... since those are the sorts of movies they seemed to be emulating, badly.
TheMarwood
Made under the watch of MGM and then MGM was purchased by Sony, The Woods fell into the hands of a studio who could care less about the thing. After being re-edited and having release dates pushed back again and again, The Woods was unceremoniously dumped straight to video and with the final twist of the knife, Sony removed all special features from the DVD and released it bare bones. The Woods deserved a better fate and while there are some issues throughout, the film has a remarkable atmosphere, the cast is uniformly good and the cinematography and art direction is quite nice. The ending is not so much botched as it seems a bit rushed and incoherent, especially considering the slow burn pace of the rest of the film. Agnes Bruckner wisely underplays her role as a semi-disturbed girl sent to a boarding school, where the school is a coven of witches. There are a few jarring shots of a girl screaming at the camera at the end of a dream sequence which are not only out of place, but a down right embarrassment of editing and failed scares. That aside, the film has a dreamy, hallucinatory feel which is a bit disconnected, but overall the film has many qualities worth seeking out.
Woodyanders
Recalcitrant and rebellious problem teen Heather Falsulo (an excellent performance by Agnes Bruckner) gets sent to an exclusive all-girls boarding school that's run by the imposing Ms. Traverse (a superbly understated portrayal by Patricia Clarkson) and located deep in the forest. Heather finds her life in considerable jeopardy after she discovers that the place is harboring a horrifying secret. Director Lucky McKee, working from an absorbing script by David Ross, relates the compelling story at a deliberate pace, offers a flavorsome evocation of the 1960's period setting, makes inspired unnerving use of the isolated sylvan setting, and does a masterful job of creating and sustaining a beautifully chilling and brooding sinister atmosphere. Moreover, McKee warrants extra plaudits for eschewing cheap scares and excessive graphic gore in favor of a supremely creepy mood that becomes more increasingly scary and unsettling as the narrative unfolds towards a harrowing conclusion. The exceptional acting from the top-rate cast helps a great deal: Bruckner and Clarkson both do sterling work in their parts, with stand-out support from Rachel Nichols as snarky bitch bully Samantha Wise, Lauren Birkell as the mousy Marcy Turner, Kathleen Mackey as the fragile and frightened Ann Wales, and, in a nice atypical straight dramatic role, Bruce Campbell as Heather's father Joe. John R. Leonetti's sumptuous widescreen cinematography gives the picture an impressive polished look. John Frizzell's shivery score hits the spine-tingling spot. A real sleeper.
AD
