Review by Emily Craig (@emillycraig)
Directed by: Jeremy Benson
Starring: Charisma Carpenter, Juliet Reeves London, Jeremy London, Lee Perkins, John Still
Reeves is really good in her part and the role truly shows off her versatility with the different personalities she is playing; it genuinely is a challenge to be pretty much the only character in a film, and she holds her own pretty well; it’s just a shame about the pacing and writing of the movie.
Girl in Woods, as the title would suggest, is about a girl trapped in the woods and desperate to get out. When Grace (Juliet Reeves London) heads out to the woods for a retreat with her new fiancé Jim (Jeremy London), something tragic happens which leaves Grace stranded and lost in the middle of the woods with only a bottle of water, a rifle and a phone with no signal to get her by.
The film is mostly shot in the woods, but it does include some flashback shots of Grace’s haunted mysterious childhood to add to the plot and to try to stop the film from being repetitive, although this attempt is failed. I hate to say it so early, but I found the film to be quite boring for the most part. The plot says that Grace “faces her demons” in the woods, which basically equates to her talking to two versions of herself – kind of like in old cartoons where you had an angel and a devil over your shoulder telling you what you should do. Yes, we get lots of character backstory but the flashback scenes are quite confusing and only really come together in the last five minutes of the film, which is a waste.
What I will say is that Reeves is really good in her part and the role truly shows off her versatility with the different personalities she is playing; it genuinely is a challenge to be pretty much (apart from the odd supporting character) the only character in a film, and she holds her own pretty well; it’s just a shame about the pacing and writing of the movie. You could have put any actress in the film, but if the plot is off then it can’t really be saved.
There was so much potential for Girl in Woods, and there could have been so many moments where Grace was in danger or fighting for her life, but none of these moments happen; all we get is Grace drinking water and then crying to herself with no proper attempt at getting out of the woods. It’s wrong to market Girl in Woods as a horror because there isn’t much at all in terms of horrific moments included in the film. It would have been much wiser to aim for the survival horror genre and rely on gore, but this is a missed opportunity!
The end credit scenes, where we see all the newspaper articles from the aftermath, are pretty good, but it’s way too late to add these in for any attempt to restore the film. It’s a shame for Reeves but Girl in Woods is confused and tiresome at the best of times.
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