Dark Woods backdrop
Dark Woods poster

DARK WOODS

Villmark

2003 • NO HMDB
February 21, 2003

Five Norwegians head for a cabin in the wilderness for a few days of teambuilding. But strange things start happening — especially down by the water where they find an abandoned tent. Is there someone else?

Directors

Pål Øie

Cast

Bjørn Floberg, Kristoffer Joner, Eva Röse, Sampda Sharma, Marko Iversen Kanic, Simon Norrthon, Ivar Nørve, Torstein Løning, Cecilie De Lange, Bjørn Jenseg
Avventura Horror Azione

REVIEWS (1)

RG

Roberto Giacomelli

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A group consisting of four contestants plus a guide take refuge in a mountain cabin to prepare for a survival reality show. They will soon discover a corpse in the lake near their cabin and abandoned camping gear; from that moment on, strange events will begin to occur, such as eerie apparitions in the forest; one of the contestants disappears without a trace, and among the remaining ones, a deep sense of paranoia sets in. We are presented with a rare example of Norwegian horror that manages to reach our country, but the quality of this film allows us to say that we are dealing with a product unworthy of representing the country of origin. Indeed, this "Dark Woods" has a multitude of flaws and very few merits. First of all, some parts of the film are unclear due to obvious gaps in the screenplay, to the point where it is difficult to understand why the group of people went to isolate themselves in the mountains before participating in the show. The list of flaws continues with the slow pace and numerous dead spots in the screenplay, not to mention the lack of originality in the plot. It starts as a sort of clone of "My Little Eye," quickly shifts into "Evil Dead" territory but without humor or splatter effects (with an explicit reference to the film: one of the boys finds a tape recorder in the cabin and when he turns it on, he hears strange words, but none of it is functional to the story, it's a reference for its own sake), only to then slide the entire story into a routine thriller with a final twist. The direction appears flat and too television-like; the photography is unprofessional, I would say almost amateur; while the cast is composed of apparently good-level actors. Positive mention for the music that manages to instill that subtle sense of unease that the rest of the film fails to offer; but too little to save this film. In conclusion, "Dark Woods" (not to be confused with a film of the same name from the same year, but of American production and belonging to the slasher movie subgenre) turns out to be a useless and boring film, completely lacking in suspense and memorable scenes; moreover, it is also hard to find, so don't waste your time looking for this movie.