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As small children, we were oft reminded not to judge a book by its cover. Of course, being the head strong little pests that we were (still are) we were hard-pressed to listen on to the words of wisdom of our loving elders. Be them books or DVD covers, this humble writer pleads guilty to the judgmental deed. Until The Woods was dropped unto my lap by a kindred spirit, I myself, offended by the DVD’s allure worthy of a D-class movie at best, had so far refused to give it a second thought. After watching the actual movie however, my original squeamishness left me with nothing but shame.
The premise itself is rather simple and may give some a certain taste of déjà vu; a young, apparently troubled teen is shipped off by her parents (much to the dismay of her father who acts under the governing whip of the apparently loveless mother) to an exclusive academy of ‘talented’ young ladies. Our young heroine, played with gusto by Agnes Bruckner makes a few acquaintances who tell her of an old local legend in which three forest witches once came to the academy many years ago and after suffering various kinds of abuse from the children of the époque, have gone to the neighbouring forest and offered it the souls of the children if it helped them obtain revenge on their tormentors. According to the said legend, the witches would have returned to the academy after committing their murderous deed and taken control of the school for their own dark purpose.
Director Lucky McKee (of ‘May’ and ‘Masters of Horror’ fame) makes no attempt at re-inventing the wheel here; he simply gives an honest effort at giving life to a fairly interesting story and providing it the means to detach itself from its previous gender-kin. By making good use of his talented cast (including the omnipotent Patricia Clarkson) and some other well-known faces like one Bruce Campbell, McKee gives this flick an air of credibility which blends perfectly with the movie’s modesty, so to speak. McKee could have easily used Campbell to a max and spread him all over this piece like cheap peanut butter but instead gave him a role which is little more than that of a prolonged cameo. Campbell is well-known for his ability to virtually steal a movie by his performance in a small, low-key role but in this case, his particular spice has been used sparingly and does in this way nothing but add the right flavour to the movie.
Another thing that stands out here is McKee’s mastery of the near-defunct art of using a soundtrack that actually suits and adds to the movie, giving it a defined tone, movement and to a certain degree, another layer. In a foul world where movies are generally ruled by a top 40 singles soundtrack, McKee went to lengths to find the fit that in the end only compliments the movie.
Coupled with the perfect background musings, the director also brought with him his personal touch that actually excludes gore. Needless to say, in this point in time it is a rather fresh approach. Instead of going for what has become the virtually mandatory splatter-house effects, he took the avenue most often tread by one H.P. Lovecraft whose device was that less is always more. In this train of thinking, what you do not see and merely hear is infinitely scarier than what is shoved in your face. Nothing here will be thrust upon you, rather you will be invited to accept the shadows and imagine for yourself what goes bump in the night. You will be reminded of a dearer, most innocent time when you believed that you were never quite alone and that anyone if not everyone was out to get you.
All things considered, an evening spent in The Woods is a dark and twitchy one and keeps your shoulders strangely held high and tight on both sides of your head. When day breaks though, you’ll look back with fondness and regret the apprehensive first look you threw in their direction. Who knows, you might even come back.
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