Dark Woods (2010)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

I am not in the habit of writing reviews, but after seeing some of the others for this movie, I just had to. I don't know what other people were seeing that let them give it 9 stars or even 4, because it was so stupid I had to turn it off after about 25 minutes, and I have a fair amount of tolerance for stupid movies, at least to the point of watching the whole thing once. SO DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME! So here's why: Guy and his dying wife go up to a cabin in the middle of the woods. One night she's on the couch and sees a guy in the window, husband goes out to check, guy comes in the back door and starts groping the wife on the couch. The husband comes back in then just stands there saying get away from her, even though he has a weapon in his hand. Later, the sheriff comes, doesn't bother taking notes, says the description sounds like a neighbor who is a little odd. He sees the wife sitting quietly on the stairs but doesn't bother asking her any questions. Sheriff says he's short handed because two of his deputies are in the next county hunting for a serial rapist, and of course doesn't think the rapist might have moved and been the guy groping the wife. Next morning the wife is feeling better, so they might have sex for the first time in 10 months, but first she needs a shower. While she's doing that, the husband goes out jogging. Sure, I'm about to have sex, why not go get all sweaty first.... So while he's jogging, he comes across a woman being raped, chases the guy off, picks her up and takes her back to the cabin. Anyone else notice she was wearing a dress and heels in the middle of the woods? I don't think the rapist had a car. In the meantime, the wife has collapsed again, so the husband calls a doctor, who obviously is the wife's doctor and knows them, so came from whatever city they live in, which means he had to drive several hours to make this house call. I'm assuming that the rape victim is in a hospital somewhere by this point, but the next thing we see is the husband going outside, looking in through a window, and the girl is asleep on his couch. The next scene is him at a table eating with her. That is when I turned it off. What kind of retarded weirdo takes a woman who was just raped and lets her move in? What kind of idiotic doctor lets him do that? No need for police or hospital or worrying about evidence. What about the girl's family? What about any semblance of intelligence? I just spent more time writing this review than the movie is worth. Stay away. I read in other reviews that the sheriff asked the guy to take in the rape victim, but that hadn't happened yet when I stopped watching, so he was already letting her sleep there and feeding her. Anyway, that just makes it worse. Why is this backwoods sheriff so busy that he can't make time for a rape victim? He has a rapist running around, but wasn't she just raped? Wouldn't he want her in a secure location so he can collect evidence and interview her? Why on earth would he leave her in the care of some random civilian he doesn't know and who doesn't even live in the area? I also saw in one review something about a 'burning' question of whether it was okay to have sex with your comatose wife. Why is that a burning question? Sure, you could, and the wife wouldn't care or even notice, but it's a lot like necrophilia, isn't it? Is he trying to get her pregnant so he can have a child from her? Not that she'll live long enough in this case, but if it's just for sex, why doesn't he just masturbate in the bathroom? Basically, WTF??!?!?!?!? so stupid......made my brain hurt....

I had expected more from this movie, a whole lot more actually. But hey, maybe it wasn't just my type of movie.The story deals with a couple that goes into solitude as Susan (the woman) is dying, and they want to be together. Then while jogging, Henry (the man) stumbles upon a young girl in distress. He rescues Alicia and brings her into their cabin. Then from there, the story becomes one of human emotions, desires, struggles and inner turmoil. Enough said about the storyline without giving too much away.Even though the storyline had potential, I wasn't entertained by it. The movie crept forward in a very, very slow pace, and I found it to be mind-numbing. Had the story moved forward faster, with more things happening, the movie would have been all the more better. For me, the movie took way to long to get from A to B, and that killed the movie for me.The people in the movie were unfamiliar faces, to me at least. And I found the movie was carried by Tracy Coogan (playing Susan Branch) and Mary Kate Wiles (playing Alicia Larch). I didn't find John Muscarnero (playing Henry Branch) to really fully be in character. There was a single familiar face in the movie, though having only a supporting role, and that being James Russo (playing sheriff Demming). There are relatively few people in the movie, and it works well enough actually.One thing that stands out in the movie was that they managed to put together a decent enough movie with a fairly small budget. And that was cool. Always nice when smaller companies put together something out of the ordinary, just a shame that the movie was slow to get anywhere. And also the scenery and sets were nice, I especially liked the feeling of isolation in the forest.Overall, I found "Dark Woods" to be a below average movie. It is listed as a thriller, but there were hardly any thrills in the entire movie. And I think that actually was what lead me to pick up this movie, so I was expecting thrills and excitement. Having seen "Dark Woods", I can now honestly say that this movie, for me, doesn't have enough watching value for a second time.

Long-suffering and frustrated man moves to the country some place with his needy, erratic wife who has cancer as an alternative to her spending the remainder of her time in a hospital after chemotherapy. Late one evening, not long into their stay, Susan (the wife) who was resting on a sofa calls Henry (the husband) and tells him she saw someone in the window. He's doubtful but goes out to investigate with a fireplace poker. He sees no one and goes to the window to look in and let Susan know everything is okay. But as he's signaling to her with his hand pressed against the window he sees the shadow of a man enter the room. He runs around to the door where he finds the man is holding his wife and touching her. He stands there a moment and watches (Unbelievable!). Then while still standing rooted to the spot with his fireplace poker, he eventually manages to say "Get away from her!" This molester paid no attention to Henry when he came thru the door and he pays no attention to him now. He continues to grope and feel a few more seconds while Henry stands there watching (Unbelievable!). Then suddenly, the man let's go of his wife and runs off.Henry reports the incident to the local sheriff who seems unsympathetic and not too believing. But seems to know who the man might be by Henry's description. He says he'll go over to his place and have a word with him. A day or two later, Susan wakes up in good spirits. She seems to be in a romantic mood and Henry is happy to get down to business after being denied for so long. However, Susan insists she wants to shower first. So while she's in the shower, Henry leaves her alone to go jogging (Unbelievable!); something no normal man would do so soon after what happened. Anyway, as fate would have it, while on his jog, he encounters the same guy trying to rape a young girl. For some reason, Henry doesn't hesitate this time and chases the guy off. He takes the girl home, and reports the incident to the sheriff. The sheriff convinces Henry to let the girl stay with him and his wife until he gets some things sorted.The girl it turns out is not as innocent as she seemed. She's intrusive, spoiled, and somewhat possessive of Henry. Moreover, may also have a few screws that are not in tight. After about 25 minutes in, the rest of the movie is about how the relationship of Henry, his wife Susan, and the girl plays out. This movie is over 90 mins long. For the most part, it is uneventful and therefore slow. The story has merit --but it would have been more interesting and effective if it was a short feature about 40 mins long. As it is, most of the movie is padded by uninteresting talk to stretch it out over 90 mins. I found I was constantly bored waiting for something eventful to happen. The end shows Henry to be a sad, pathetic man. But I knew that when the movie started. Love, Boloxxxi.

I saw this movie recently. Don't know if its out in theaters or when it will be but it should be. Movies like this, especially independent ones, sadly are not made anymore. Its all horror and really lame (almost sad) "comedies". This movie is a hauntingly beautiful tragic story which has some scenes that I would compare to "happiness". A movie that I love but is so disturbing for its realistic and never talked about content (that's really inspiring!). And that's the same journey that this film takes you through. Every character is so desperate for some kind of connection with their surrounding characters and does not achieve their goals! Awesome. Because that is what's real. A lot of filmmakers are not this bold and I tip my hat to the director. I encourage everyone to, if this ever comes out, GO SEE IT!