Bizarre psychodrama is almost a great indie horror film. Almost.
There’s so much to admire and enjoy in director Jeremy Benson’s bizarre survivalist psycho-thriller GIRL IN WOODS that its unfortunate to see it hampered by a few major missteps, ones that are hard to forgive. But if you are in the mood for overlooking these glaring stumbles, you might be impressed by all the things it manages to get right.
The film stars Juliet Reeves as Grace, a deeply troubled young woman who is tormented by an endless onslaught of nightmares and hallucinations (GIRL IN WOODS might actually set new records for dream sequences within dreams sequences), most of which are centered around the hideous handgun suicide of her father (Jeremy London) that she witnessed as a child and that has damaged her irrevocably. Thankfully, her understanding boyfriend is on her side and decides, after a particular bad bout of harrowing visions, that what Grace needs to calm her head is a nice weekend away in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere, in the deepest of deep woods.
This man needs to watch more horror movies, methinks.
After a brutal accident (or is it?) fells her suitor, Grace begins to unravel further. The lack of cell phone reception blocks her attempts at getting help and forces her further into the woods and deeper into an endless spate of bloody and surreal memories of her late father and oddly grinning mother (Charisma Carpenter). Seems that her mom and dad had a troubled relationship and the effects of it are what ignited the mental illness that now threatens to consume her. Meanwhile, in the “real world”, Grace begins hunting a blackened humanoid rat-monster that looks like one of the ghouls from THE DESCENT and having literal conversations with herself (Reeves appears as her own conscience, a hokey device that never works) and her long dead Grandfather, seemingly the sunniest person in her short trouble life.
The film keeps getting darker, weirder and, unfortunately, sillier.
The biggest problem with GIRL IN WOODS (we do love that Benson opted to remove “the” from the title, mirroring the immediate and elemental nature of his narrative) is the dialogue. It’s flabby and full of exposition and sound unnatural and threatens to undue the artfully somber mood the director works so hard the achieve. Reeves is a fine physical presence but she’s unable to convincingly sell this dialogue, especially when having long chats with her doppleganger. Worse are the scenes with her Dan Haggerty looking Gramps; these are trite, syrupy sequences that are made more unbearable by the generic Lifetime Channel-flavored score, music that over emotes like a too-serious sports bar Karaoke singer.
Still, the good stuff is very good. Benson seems to be going for an origin story here and, by the admirably bloody, twisted and somewhat depressing finale, suggests that further GIRL IN WOODS films might be in his future. We’d welcome them as long Benson dials back the superfluous verbiage and maudlin attempts to humanize his heroine (or, without giving away too much, eventual antagonist).
As is, GIRL IN WOODS is a valiant attempt at myth-making and a noble stab at creating a horror film that circumnavigates cliches while disorienting its audience.
It’s certainly worth a look and you can do just that when GIRL IN WOODS premieres this Friday, June 3rd on Cable VOD and Digital HD.
