Platypuschow
This hyper low budget movie I found on the Kings of Horror channel on Youtube and that rarely bodes well. I'm not saying the average Kings of Horror movie is bad I'm.....wait, yes I am.This tells the story of a group of friends who venture into the forest to camp and come across something unpleasant. Pretty standard stuff.Truth be told though I found myself oddly gripped. The opening was fantastic (Amateurish but fantastic) it looked great, the song choice was good and I actually found myself having expectations!Sadly it didn't maintain the same level of quality, it had it's moments don't get me wrong but it started looking shoddy fairly early on. To it's credit the movies monster looks fairly good, but I'm not convinced it needed the glowy eyes which really looked out of place.The story was generic but passable, though parts did feel rushed.Sadly the ending was pretty poor, maybe I didn't "Get it" but to me it seemed stupid and totally unnecessary.Good effort despite the current 2.3 rating on IMDB. I see what they were going for, it just missed the mark.The Good:Fantastic opening creditsDecent soundtrackYeti actually looks quite goodGreat opening monologueThe Bad:Some of the acting is atrociousNot sure about the glowy eyesPredator rip off sceneThe ending is confusing and dumbThings I Learnt From This Movie:When returning a body back to their home the next day, bury them for the nightRight next to big barrels labelled "Highly explosive" is a great place to use fireworks
gpeltz
Talking about the movie Lost Woods, 2012 co directed by Nathan Eilering and Phillip Ellering. Phillip also co wrote it with Joey Brown, who also stars in it. Spoiler Alert; I will be talking about plot details, If you can see it first do so, then come back and see if I'm close. My initial reaction is leaning toward the positive, It was redeemed by a number of factors. However before it was redeemed, it came very close to loosing it. It's premise at first resembles a grand cliché. Five friends go out into the wilderness, out of contact with anyone, and meet a Sasquatch. The undying monster. They are picked off one by one.Here the five friends are Darrin, played by Joey Brown, who wrote this story. the vulnerable member of the group. Garrett Vander Leun plays Warren, the intellectual one, dark rim glasses. The congenial Lucy is played by Nina Brissey, She's the only girl on this trip. Phillip Ellering who co directed this plays Rey, the leader, outdoors-man, and survivalist. Lastly, the Comic book, zoned out, long blond haired and most outrageous of character goes to Nathan Ellering as George who again co wrote this story, . Throw in a pair of country boys, and a beast with glowing eyes, and you got the elements in play. How can such a setup succeed? First film it beautifully with pristine wilderness backdrops. This Cinematographer Lance Kuhns does very well, There is care in the color palette used here. the sign of some thought in the production values, Here the typical "Kids running through the woods in panic" seem less typical, even though almost every character has a chance to run, they are all filmed to cinematic effect, and are interesting to watch, the percussive score by Cody James and Jayden Lewis punctuate the action. Well done, The Actors obviously have a lot invested here, as they were all co writers or directors, The closeness in a working situation, is reflected in the camaraderie displayed by the characters they play. Friends of many years. Friends with issues. This lifts the players out of the "stock" role they are assuming. This is a difficult relationship to convey, yet it comes off well, most of the time. Then there is the monster. The first shots of the man beast are unsettling, The viewers are given the usual shadowy figure in the brush, but even when the beast is full frontal, it is somewhat convincing, It has a ape like face, but is built like a woolly Hercules. A movie like this can stand or fall on the credibility of the creature, does it look convincing, does it act convincing. Yes and No, A big guy in a suit, Not alien enough to be a Predator type creature, but big with glowing eyes, and an invulnerability to bullets as well as an ability to leap through the wooded terrain. Did I mention that it was also seemingly invulnerable to any attempts on its life. On the other hand, it does not hesitate to brawl fist to fist with one of the leads. It hunts all humans, but has poor vision. Nor does this beast smell nice. When I discovered that the beast was indestructible, I figured the movie lost any credibility it gained with the fine acting. Likewise was my feeling when I contemplated the "ten little,Indian" plot, I was not eager to see these guys get knocked off. and yet even in the inevitable plot line, they were able to make it interesting. To be sure there were some major flubs. One male bonding scene for example, would not have rung true even if Shakespeare wrote it, and worse, it was out of place, nearly killing the pacing, Even the stalwart of horror films convention, the, celebration after killing the beast, followed by the revelation that the beast is not really dead. is put in play, For some reason, it works. allowing the final victory conclusion. There are more than a few questionable plot holes, How did the one who got carried off survive? How did the dog survive? What the heck was the issue with the kid and his Pop? What are they target practicing with full bottles of beer? Big mistake. All manner of goofs, yet somehow it all pulls together and the ending is convincing bordering on satisfying. It is easier do give up the notion of the creature as a ape man type entity, and start to recognize it as a malevolent alien, empowered by negative forces and black smoke. Then it starts to make sense. And the conclusion is satisfying redeeming. Four out of Five" Indie does Sasquatch", Stars.
Paul Magne Haakonsen
Right, well "Lost Woods" starts off as your average late teenage camping movie far, far out in the woods. Of course, in ideal setting for a horror or slasher movie. And the movie was shot in a great way, with lots of really nice shots in the forest. But then it all went downhill.The movie was so amazingly slow in progressing, that I actually dozed off twice within the first half of the movie. Yeah, it was that uneventful and dull. But once you get past the halfway marker of the movie's length, then finally the movie picks up pace. Then you also get to see the creature.And speaking of the creature. Are you kidding me? A man in a furry suit and with blueish-glowing eyes? Yeah, alright, it was oh-so-scary (hope you can see the sarcasm oozing off the words here). Sure it was the creature from the cover of the movie, but I had expected something else, not just some pumped-up sasquatch wanna-be man in a furry suit. That was such an eyesore. It was fast at foot, agile and quite adept at running, despite looking as big as a bear. And when it attacked people, it was throwing punches at them like a pro boxer. Wait, what? Yeah, it was jabbing and punching at the people it attacked. And it also had unbelievable jumping abilities, managing to jump clear over a rather wide chasm."Lost Woods" has a relatively small list of people on the casting roster, and the people in the movie actually did good enough jobs, so it wasn't here that the movie was haltering. No, it was in its slow pace and stupid story - and the fuzzy ewok on steroids.This movie was rather disappointing and there were no scare moments at all in the movie, unless you consider dozing off a couple of times scary.The worst part of "Lost Woods" had got to be the transformation scene at the ending of the movie. That was just so cheesy. And, oh dear God, how could they have come up with that and said to themselves 'yeah, that seems possible'? I was shaking my head in disbelief and laughing so hard here.Now, if you like monster movies, scary movies, thrillers, etc. then "Lost Woods" is perhaps not the best of choices. What would make the movie worth watching is the cinematography, because there really was some nice camera work and great shots in the forest in the movie. Sadly, however, that wasn't enough to make the movie interesting for me.This is a movie that will never make it for a second watching in my lifetime, it just wasn't worth the effort.
