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Backwoods (2006)
In the world of low budget horror you tend to see the same things
done over and over. The low budget horror comedy has been done to
death as well as the zombie movie. If there was one horror subgenre
that I'd like to see tackled it would be slasher films. So I'm sure
you could sense my delight when I put in Backwoods into my DVD player
and realized that not only was it a slasher, but it's a homage to the
backwoods (I guess they picked the right title then eh?) slashers of
the 1980's. Directed, written, and produced by Robert Elkins there's
no doubt that he has a great love for these types of films. There are
homages to Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Don't Go in the
Woods, and Halloween. There's a killer that totes about a teddy bear
and who is pretty shifty with a pitchfork. I know what you're
thinking. What else would you need? Well you get all that and more
with this one.
Backwoods is a pretty simple story for a film. A bunch of teenagers
decide to help one of their friends get over a personal tragedy. They
take a trip in which a girl in the group gets to visit the gravesite
of a loved one, only for the group to end up lost in the woods. It
just so happened as the group gets lost, that there is a killer on the
loose….and he's after them! We get all of your typical slasher stuff
here with the asshole boyfriend, the whore, the good girl, and then
the two characters that everyone can identify with. Also, their only
saving grace is the town sheriff who doubles as the town drunk. So
good luck to all of them….they're gonna need it in the situation that
they've found themselves in. It should also be mentioned that the
killer has a cool look and is pretty effective over the course of the
movie. They give him/it a personality that works in the context of
the film and you find yourself guessing at his identity throughout.
The only other thing about the movie that really bothered me was how
the director was really attempting to mention the topic of abortion
several times throughout the movie. Now I'm not saying that I
personally have an issue with the act (because I don't), but it's
certainly seemed as if the director was trying to convey a personal
message in their as well.
Now since Backwoods is a low budget horror flick, it does have its
fair share of technical issues. The sound in the movie is the biggest
problem that I noticed. It goes from bad to worse as some of the
movie's dialog sounds like its being delivered in a tin cup. Another
thing that I noticed that I found to be a bit silly was the distorting
of a video camera name brand in the film too. I'm not saying that
they should have let it go, but honestly there are a lot better things
you can do other than using computer graphics to cover it up. It's
not the biggest deal in the world, but I definitely noticed it. Also
there are some really bad CG gunshots in the film that are something
that takes it down a bit too. The acting in the film goes from
alright to terrible, but this isn't exactly the type of film that
lives and dies with its actors. But it's not all bad actually.
There's plenty of stylish camera work and shots that show that the
director is more than a point and shoot artist, because a lot of the
scenes and kills in the movie are effective. Damn effective. One
thing that I was thinking about during the movie was the 2004 slasher
film "Malevolence". For those unaware this was a highly awaited
independent slasher film that really was catching a lot of buzz.
Unfortunately in my estimation, the movie was a horrible
disappointment and did nothing in my opinion but steal from other
great slashers of the past. Well, the reason why I brought that up is
because that not only could that film learn a lot from Backwoods, but
I'm sure Backwoods was made on a much smaller budget with a lot less
resources. So kudos to Mr. Elkins for achieving that.
Overall I really did enjoy Backwoods even with its faults. It's not
a perfect film by far, but there's definitely talent there in Robert
Elkins. It was refreshing to see the love I'm sure that Mr. Elkins
has for slasher films conveyed right through the TV screen and onto
the viewer. As a hardcore fan of slasher flicks, I found this to be a
fitting entry into the horror sub genre. It's a must see for
slasher fans and for independent filmmakers alike.
Rating - **1/2
-Ed Demko
