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54%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #15,422
...out of 20,886 movies
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Danielle is stuck in a dead end relationship with a married man. It takes a turn for the worse when he leaves her and then comes back and brutality rapes her. Stripped of everything she wakes drugged and lost in the woods. With a few clues and constant torments, she runs from an unseen character that little by little reveals his intention and who he is. When she returns to reality, an explosive climax ties up all loose ends and conflicts.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: November 23, 2008
I picked up my weekly round of goodies from the post office yesterday, and one of the things that I saw in the lot was a little flick that I had never heard of entitled Into The Woods. This particular screener copy was burned to a CD-R with a brief note telling me who made it and who I could contact with further questions, but it said nothing about the movie itself. So, I did a little research and stumbled upon the film's official site, and there, I saw a poster that absolutely screamed "sexploitation sleaze." The stills found on said site did nothing to convince me otherwise as the vast majority of them featured scantily-clad or nude women, and while I can't say that I don't enjoy a horror flick that comes with a double serving of T&A, I also can't say that I was expecting a horror classic. Now that I've sat through the film, I can safely say that I was right: Into The Woods is definitely not a horror classic, but the storyline is actually a lot deeper than I had expected.
There's a thin line between "giving you an idea what this movie is about" and "spoiling the entire damned thing" with this film, so I'm going to tread carefully while describing it. Basically, the entire thing revolves around Danielle (Nancy Feliciano) and Charlie (Phil Herman), two lovers who have had a bit of a falling out thanks to Charlie revealing that he would rather stay faithful to his wife than keep on having this little fling with our heroine on the side. Yeah, that'll do it. Danielle is heartbroken as she truly loved this man, but this rejection will soon be the least of her worries. You see, she decides to cap off the night with a cheesy horror flick (watch for a cameo by Lilith Stabs) before climbing into bed, but then, somebody shows up and...
...and Danielle then wakes up naked and alone in the middle of the woods. She eventually discovers that someone has drugged her before dragging her out here and has left clues for her to discover while she attempts to find her way home, and she also finds out that someone may be watching her and waiting for a chance to strike. She also realizes that her memory has been completely erased, but as she journeys through these woods, the things that led to her being where she is starts coming back to her.
That is the gist of the storyline, but let me make one thing clear right up front: this is not just another "torture porn" flick, nor is it your standard slasher. I can't say too much more without giving everything away, but the majority of the movie does not take place in these woods and it does not center around a masked madman chasing her through said woods - this only sets the "real" storyline into motion. There are certainly horror elements here, but what you're really going to get from this release is a psychological thriller that requires the viewer to pay attention and put the pieces of the puzzle together to figure out what's really going on.
Until you figure out where the movie is going, I have to say that the storyline was pretty damned confusing. You see, the filmmakers laughed at the concept of a linear storyline; the "present" and events from the "past" are intertwined seamlessly and "reality" is blurred together with "delusions", and it soon becomes a bit of a chore to figure out what in the hell is going on... but as the pieces start to click together, we discover the full extent of the story and what really went on in this woman's life. Suffice it to say that you'll probably get a good idea as to what will happen in the finale, and you'll then be proven wrong in a single scene. You'll then think "Well, if it wasn't that, then it has to be this"... and again, you will be proven wrong. You really have to watch the movie and figure out the importance of seemingly useless memories and events, and again, I was shocked at just how intricate this storyline really was. This is not a complaint, as it sort of felt like what you would get if David Lynch decided to mix together the thriller and slasher genres into one mindfuck of a film.
Although the film is far from a Hollywood blockbuster in terms of the budget and the production values, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film was well-shot and had some great editing. This sort of thing can be the kiss of death for an indie release regardless of how good the storyline may be, but here, everything is fine save for a minor quibble here and there. The acting from both Nancy Feliciano and Phil Herman is also perfectly acceptable, as even though I could point to "this" scene and say that Feliciano wasn't exactly perfect and even though I could point to "that" scene and say that Herman could have done with a reshoot, the vast majority of their work was convincing and up to snuff.
Check it out. I had a few issues with the final product so I can't truthfully say that it's a perfect film, but it is a damned good one nonetheless. The storyline is great, the payoff is satisfying, and of course, there's plenty of the aforementioned T&A on display courtesy of the lovely Nancy Feliciano. Can you really go wrong with that combination? 8/10.
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