I do like a good low budget 80's slasher movie, but this isn't one of them. Bad acting, shoddy camerawork, a poor script and general inept filmmaking by James Bryan makes Don't Go in the Woods one of the worst examples of the genre and is yet another case of a movie getting an unjustifiably notorious reputation because of being banned by the BBFC and appearing on the DPP 'video nasty' list just for a few seconds worth of severed limbs and gore here and there amongst all the pointless boring bits in-between.
The plot could have been written on the back of a napkin as four backpackers venture into the woods and inadvertently stumble across a feral maniac intent on killing and slashing anyone in his path. It's a familiar device to get people into a vulnerable situation and kill them off one by one however the writer and director have no intent on fleshing out characters, giving any exposition or reasoning for the violence and gore that follows, it just happens.
Cashing in on the success of Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980) there was a glut of slashers that were quickly produced around this time so you can understand where this is coming from however it's a lame attempt, especially as the staging of the horror sequences and fake blood are poorly executed with no tension whatsoever and poor pacing throughout. There is a bit of comic relief when the local Sheriff turns up to investigate the murders but he is convinced that a bear is on the loose and responsible for all the carnage. Things do get a little more interesting when the backpackers discover the Maniac's lair and they are forced into survival mode to escape the threat, but that's just being kind.
On the whole it's slapdash opportunist filmmaking that makes little sense. You get a feeling that it was patched together over a series of weekend shoots by a bunch of amateurs and giving this film 3 stars is generous to say the least but no matter how bad it got I still felt compelled to watch to the bitter end, and it's one for horror completists of the genre.
The plot could have been written on the back of a napkin as four backpackers venture into the woods and inadvertently stumble across a feral maniac intent on killing and slashing anyone in his path. It's a familiar device to get people into a vulnerable situation and kill them off one by one however the writer and director have no intent on fleshing out characters, giving any exposition or reasoning for the violence and gore that follows, it just happens.
Cashing in on the success of Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980) there was a glut of slashers that were quickly produced around this time so you can understand where this is coming from however it's a lame attempt, especially as the staging of the horror sequences and fake blood are poorly executed with no tension whatsoever and poor pacing throughout. There is a bit of comic relief when the local Sheriff turns up to investigate the murders but he is convinced that a bear is on the loose and responsible for all the carnage. Things do get a little more interesting when the backpackers discover the Maniac's lair and they are forced into survival mode to escape the threat, but that's just being kind.
On the whole it's slapdash opportunist filmmaking that makes little sense. You get a feeling that it was patched together over a series of weekend shoots by a bunch of amateurs and giving this film 3 stars is generous to say the least but no matter how bad it got I still felt compelled to watch to the bitter end, and it's one for horror completists of the genre.