Customer Reviews

Backwoods

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I didn't have high expectations for this movie. To my way of thinking, the world already has more than enough B-horror movies featuring a group of young people going out into the woods and being attacked by a bunch of dirty, disgusting backwoods cretins. To make matters worse, the characters in this film are all taking part in a corporate team-building retreat (not a reunion - the information in the editorial review is less than accurate), a practice I consider to be one of the most infernal ideas mankind has ever come up with. And wouldn't you know it? These young video game company executives turn out to be among the most annoying people on the planet. Only two have any redeeming qualities whatsoever, the one dude who isn't really in to all of the kissing up and debauched camaraderie (Ryan Merriman) and the hot girl who's sort of uncomfortable with her jerk boss's constant touchy-feely sessions with her (Haylie Duff). To my surprise, the film actually grew some legs somewhere in the middle - but not enough to really win me over. In the end, a complete lack of originality consigns Backwoods to the ranks of the slightly below average. Think Wrong Turn meets The Hills Have Eyes, and you'll pretty much have Backwoods all figured out.

I wasn't sure what to make of the name Tom Alan Smithee being given to a character (and a minor character, at that). As most B-movie buffs know, "Alan Smithee" is the name film directors use when they know they've made a real stinker and don't want their real names associated with the project. Maybe the character name is just a coincidence, but the fact that Smithee and his girlfriend turn up on Missing posters as having last been seen on February 30 seems to indicate that the script writer may have had a sense of humor about the whole thing. (Unfortunately, these in-jokes are the only creative aspects of the entire film.)

So our stereotypical characters all go out to the middle of nowhere to play paintball, hone their "executive tactics," and have their teamwork skills reviewed by their obnoxious boss. Being hot-shot executives and all, they happily set up camp in what they know is a restricted area that used to house some sort of military installation. The one unhappy camper among them soon notices all of the obvious evidence that they're not alone, but no one wants to listen to his party pooping warnings. The next thing you know, the gang is besieged by a group of religious fanatics who proceed to beat the crap out of the six guys while preparing the two females for use in increasing the local nutjob population.

Backwoods was apparently produced for Spike TV, so don't expect to see much in the way of blood and gore. (Needless to say, there's no nudity whatsoever.) Some old-fashioned traps make the chase scenes through the forest somewhat interesting, but I pretty much relied on Haylie Duff's hotness to get me through the film's 80 minute runtime (although I must admit I got quite a kick out of watch a mortally wounded techie put on an amazing show of shooting bad guys without even aiming.) If you're a horror fan, Backwoods is certainly a watchable film, but you won't see anything here you haven't seen before.

I quite liked the characters and story .Think Timber Falls meets Dying Breed.

Haylie Duff gives a believable performance as one of the girls that go on a paintball excursion with a group of co workers for a workshop in leadership and team work. After they settle in for the night at there camp they are attacked and taken to a cult community and put in cages .The men are set to be slaughtered and the women to be bedded by the breeder.A huge ugly looking mutant who serves as stud service for the savage hillbilly cult that have made a home in a remote part of the "Backwoods"
Danny Nucci whom I love turns up in this indie slasher and his acting is always up to par playing a cocky jokester.
Deborah Van Valkenburg gives a chilling performance as the mother of the cult .You might remember her from her stint in the 80's sitcom "Too Close For Comfort"and she was also one of the prostitutes in The Devils Rejects.
I like this movie because it has all the elements I like in a slasher although it could have used more gore but that didn't
diminish my enjoyment of the film.The main thing I loved about it was that the captives don't remain helpless victims and just get tortured "although that can be fun too"..There is quite the battle for survival and some great avenging moments.

Is it original ? not exactly but the formula is still fun and one I as a slasher fan always enjoy.The one where people wander into the woods,run into some crazy backwoods clan with their own set of rules and morals and they're usually not conducive to the health of the trespasser.It's non stop action from beginning to end.

Great Gertie's Nightgown! "The Best Movie Ever!" You're kidding me right? Either that or you're 12. "Backwoods" is yet another feeble attempt at telling a worn-out story. Haven't we beat this horse to death yet?

The plot line is something like this: some en-tre-preneurs decide to go paint balling over the weekend. In the country. In the backwoods. Alone. No guns. Nothing to protect themselves. Scared yet? Neither was I. While there, they encounter a bunch of goons who've decided they need fresh women in order to breed with a hatchet-weilding troglodyte so they can keep the "new race" up to snuff.

What follows is very lame, very boring, and very awful. The movie lasts 84 minutes (you'll swear it's more like 8-1/2 hours), is directed with about as much verve as a turnip, and is rated R. Haylie Duff screams a lot and wears boots. Pitiful.

Backwoods (2008) is another film where folks from the city, run into trouble while camping out in the wilderness. As a made for TV feature, things are toned down accordingly. For a film in this genre, Backwoods is not particularly original or well done, and is rather annoying at times, but it does provide a few thrills and laughs.

As part of a job evaluation, the executive staff of a computer gaming company is divided into two teams, for a paintball battle in the forest. The two groups drive out into the backwoods of North Carolina, and setup separate camp sites. The next day, the war game begins, but while out hunting each other, the paintballers are attacked and captured, by members of a religious cult living in the woods, and dragged back to their camp.

Deborah van Valkenburg (Too Close For Comfort) is the matriarch of the forest clan. She determines if female prisoners are suitable for `breeding', with her ugly hulk of a son, Josiah (Robert `Bonecrusher' Mukes). The forest people are engaged in the manufacturer of illegal drugs, and fear the attention of law enforcement. Believing that the outsiders are FBI agents, the male prisoners are beaten, and tortured.

Killing some of their captors, the surviving male prisoners, led by Perry (Danny Nucci) and Adam (Ryan Merriman), manage to get free and do some damage. Making a break, they are able to free their companions, Lee (Haylie Duff) and Maggie (Mimi Michaels), and flee into the woods, with the clan close behind. The film's most memorable instance of graphic violence, involving a trap with sharpened wooden spikes, is also one of the most humorous. It is amazing how well someone can shoot, when impaled on a set of spikes.

The writing is not great, particularly the dialog. Many of the victims are not too bright, or very likeable. Story development is not a strong point, and the ending is pretty weak. There is some decent use of outdoor locations, and a couple of nasty kills, but nothing that really distinguishes the film from others in the genre. While perhaps pushing the edge for a TV movie, this film isn't in the same extreme category as some feature films. If your taste in horror runs along the lines of a diluted, dumbed-down version of `Wrong Turn', you might want to give this a try.

We've seen this before. Bunch of stupid kids or in this case young guys going into the wilderness on the weekend just to get high, drink beer, get laid and pheraps get killed by a stupid psychopathic. Nothing but crap.

This wasn't just a few degenerate hicks gone homicidal in the woods. This was an entire compound of hicks gone homicidal in the woods, wanting to procreate. Must have ran out of farm animals. Since most of these movies are the same, what makes them worth watching is the acting. This one was a little different. For one thing it had that Howling 1 movie werewolf chick as the head of the hick family. With all of those relatives though, one of them could have bought her some Rogain though. One thing missing though was a good end-of-the-movie one-on-one fight for survival between the protagonist lead male or female and either the big hulking hick or the head hick ranger. You could have had both-the protagonist female fight against the Rogaine deficiant head antagonist female and the lead protagonist male fight against the two antagonist males. The acting was good, as was the violence, although I would have pushed the neurotic screaming chick off the top of the cliff. She got on my nerves.

The little differences in this movie, made it pretty good when compared to similar films. I am a huge fan of young unknowns in these types of films. Too many killers in such films can dilute the concentration of the viewers, just as too many victims can. The "survival in the woods" theme is always a plus. Doubt if their will be a sequel , buit this was worth buying.

I like horror films to make me jump or scream. This one did. Yes, it's the same basic premise we've seen many times in this type of movie, but the plot isn't really what I watch these movies for. Also, there's plenty of new twists/elements in this one. This movie really had me cheering for the "good guys" - I was glad I'd watched it by myself, as the last 20 minutes or so really had me screaming at the TV, cheering the kids on. I really enjoyed watching this movie, and am buying a copy to share with my horror loving friends.

I bought this thinking it would be just another movie about a bunch of ppl in the woods being attacked by a bunch of crazy ppl just because they're crazy. I figured on a rainy day when nothing's on, why not watch another gory movie about what we've all seen a thousand times before just to pass the time. I was actually very surprised at how good this movie actually is.

Finally, we have a decent reason for ppl being out in the woods instead of them just randomly deciding to go there or the usual running out of gas. And finally there's an actual legitimate story behind why the ppl are crazy in the first place. The group is a bunch of young business ppl who go on a paintball retreat for the weekend in what they think is some kind of National Park. The ppl that live in this area are still stuck in some kind of time warp where they believe the government is out to do them harm.

One of the guys walks around with a hat on that says FBI so the ppl that live there think that's who the group is. It's not long before they start their next day to do their paintball thing when they realize strange things happening around them. They soon realize something's not right and decide to leave. That's when everything starts happening.

However, the "backwoods" ppl aren't running around randomly trying to kill everybody just because they can. They don't want to harm the women. There's sort of a 'Mother Earth' figure who leads things and believes the women need to be part of their circle to breed. I won't say much more and give it all away but finally a good backwoods story that has meaning for the ppl being there and meaning for why they're being targets.

It's actually a really good movie, good acting, good storyline, and everything comes together when it should. I'm glad I added it to my collection.

Who are these backwoods people anyway? Part religious cult and something else? What is with this strange lab. where they have to wear hazzard suits and gas mask making something? Why to they like having captured women impregnated? Too many unknowns for me. Not enough gore for my liking. Just a ok film.

Taking it's cue from classics like Deliverence, Southern Comfort, and a little (and I mean very little) from The Hills Have Eyes. Backwoods is a survival horror film with a semi predictable plot, minimal gore, and a decent amount of action to give it enough legs making it into a watchable movie. The only hiccup I have is that it lacks suspense and atmospshere to truly make it an effective horror film. But I like it enough to watch it the whole way through, and would give it another view. Definetly not a film for torture and gore hounds, But for a Spike TV produce film made for tv, it's not bad.