Timber Falls (2007) User Reviews

Competent Horror Fare

[gary-444 · 6/10 · 23 May 2008]

I watched this film aware of the critical kicking it had received at the hands of the UK Press. It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it might be .It is Director Tony Giglio's mainstream debut, and you can see the films he enjoyed watching at Film School. The "Hills Have Eyes". "Deliverance", "Misery" "Friday The 13th" all have thematic or visual references .Those who have enjoyed those films will not be disappointed by this .However, therein lies the rub, in terms of originality it is 0/10, as an homage my 6/10 stands.

Aficianados will enjoy the horror staples. Brianna Brown, as toned, wavy haired blonde victim Sheryl is perfect. She screams and moans a lot, and gives us a very enjoyable white lacy underwear moment before some embarrassingly soft porn shots. Heroic boyfriend Mike, played by Josh Randall, is able to take beatings, whippings, brandings, Bear trap entrapment and various other indignities whilst still coming out at the other end as manfully as a hero should. Interestingly although this film has been caught up in the "torture porn" debate, it is Josh who is shown bare chested and writhing much more provocatively than his female heroine.

The cinematography is strong, and the mountain setting in West Virginia beautiful. Although essentially a "painting by numbers" horror plot, the story is lifted by the intelligent performance of Beth Broderick as Ida, the religious fanatic unable to carry a baby full term. One of the problems of the horror genre is that it is impossible to churn out stories each more gory, more horrifying or more titillating than what has gone before. This neither attempts , nor achieves, any of those objectives. That should not disqualify the likes of "Timber Falls" though for a picture soundly made, and well executed.

Its been done before, but still worthwhile.

[tmbaio · 6/10 · 15 April 2008]

Timber Falls, despite being similar to many horror movies taking place in a lonely wooded area, still manages to stand its ground within the genre. The opening 20 minutes starts out with everything horror fans have seen before; but when the villain's motive is finally revealed, the film will be sure to catch you off guard. For a movie with such a generic plot, no one will see this coming. The villain's intentions are brutal, twisted, and frighteningly believable! Performances are fine, the violence is intense and the pace is never too slow. The ending is clearly a throw-back to various 1980's style horror sequels which will either cause you to sigh or laugh, but overall you'll still be entertained.

In short, despite its title, Timber Falls will eventually "fall" into the cracks of obscurity, but will not fall short. Give this one a shot. Enjoy.

If Timber Falls In An Empty Cinema, Does It Still Make A Sound?

[Mr_Saxon · 4/10 · 14 January 2008]

When a young couple (Josh Randall and Brianna Brown) go hiking in West Virginia, they meet with a local woman named Ida (Beth Broderick) who recommends that they head along the trail to Timber Falls due to the beautiful waterfalls and gorgeous Appalachian views. Despite prior knowledge that the trail is the least frequently patrolled, Mike and Sheryl decide to follow Ida's advice and end up abducted, tortured and fighting for their lives against... oh, that would spoil the fun wouldn't it?

"Timber Falls" borrows a little bit from "Wrong Turn" (in fact, it was mistakenly marketed as "Wrong Turn 2" in Brazil), a little bit from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and a little bit from "Hostel". Unfortunately, it ends up less than the sum of its parts. The best scene in the entire movie comes in the opening segment which features a lot of blood and the rather gruesome way in which a young woman frees herself from imprisonment. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is nowhere near as bloody or horrific. With only one exception that I can think of, the camera subsequently shies away from showing most of what is happening.

The fact that it borrows from other movies isn't what causes "Timber Falls" to fail. The movie fails because the main characters aren't actually that interesting. They spend the first half of the movie making small talk or simply making out with one another, and the second half crying or shouting. You don't get much back-story either, other than some dialogue explaining that one of them is a nurse. Because of this, you can't really connect to either of them and ultimately don't care all that much about their fate.

It's a shame really because you get the feeling that director Tony Giglio has quite a lot of talent. The Romanian landscape (where the movie was actually filmed) is captured beautifully and he fully conveys the gloom of the location in which the two main characters are imprisoned.

As it is, "Timber Falls" isn't a bad movie. It just isn't a particularly great one either. The torture scenes aren't particularly interesting and there's absolutely nothing here that you haven't seen before in other horror movies of this ilk. If you've already watched "The Hills Have Eyes", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Wrong Turn" and all the other scary wilderness/torture-porn movies then this will be an okay rental until something better arrives. If not then try one of the aforementioned movies instead

Nothing here.

[bombersflyup · 3/10 · 12 July 2019]

Timber Falls is okay at best, offering nothing new.

Once the couple become prisoners, it's quite dull. Not exactly the worst scenario to be in though, they could have just went along with it until the opportunity to break free arises. Mike never questions how Ida carried him home and into the house. The quick ending scene's both absurd and unnecessary and these people were clearly dead.

I Have Seen This Story Many Times- But This One Is Worthwhile

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 14 November 2007]

Mike (Josh Randall) and his girlfriend Sheryl (Brianna Brown) travel from Virginia to Lake Kimbrabow State Park in West Virginia to spend the weekend hiking and camping in the woods. They ask for directions to the local guard that advises them to follow the Donner Trail or the Willow Creek Bridge; however, Mike meets the local Ida Forester (Beth Broderick) in the crossroad that tells them that Timber Falls has magnificent landscapes and a wonderful waterfall and the couple decide to go to the place. They stumble with the troublemakers Brody (Branden R. Morgan), Darryl (T.W. Leshner) and Lonnie (Ryan McGee) and Sheryl convinces Mike to get rid off the bullets of his revolver. They camp and in the morning Sheryl is abducted while bathing in a nearby lake. The desperate Mike seeks her, and finds a deranged fanatic religious family that needs them to procreate an offspring.

"Timber Falls" has an unoriginal story that I have seen many times: "The Hills Have Eyes", "Wrong Turn", I can count many movies with stories similar to the original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and also "Deliverance", "Misery" plus a collection of clichés of the genre. However, the blending is surprisingly good and works, hooking the attention of the viewer until the very last scene. When I see this type of movie, I try to guess what will happen to the prisoners. Will they survive or die? The gore resolution of "Timber Falls" is also great, but the last scene is absolutely unnecessary. I liked very much the performance of Beth Broderick in a contradictory character. The make-up of Deacon is impressive and the locations are stunning. In my opinion, fans of the genre will not be disappointed with this film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Pânico na Floresta 2" ("Panic in the Forest 2")

Clichée on Clichée and topped with a turd

[dschmeding · 2/10 · 3 February 2008]

I don't get the comments on "Timber falls"... sure, make-up and setting are nice, acting is decent but thats about it. The plot is a joke... a couple goes hiking in the woods, they meet strange hillbillies who surprise them while trying to have romantic mountain scape sex. Now after being degraded, which clichée comes first (OK, right after the couple lost in the woods clichée)?? Yep, the blonde nurse forces her friend to get rid of his bullets... great. Now lets be unarmed and have some more sex in the tent while watched by sickos and then get kidnapped next day. Yippiee... kidnapped by a god fearing freak family, one with a burnt face and a creepy sickle and the others want the two to make them a baby. Oh yeah... crazy family in the woods, kidnapped couple... Wrong Turn, TCM, Wolf Creek anyone?? Misery, Capitivity anyone?? I can't count on how many tries they had on this last year alone and "Timber falls" also tries to incorporate the now so popular torture sequences. Since the crazy folks want a kid and the couple doesn't want to go on with the mountain scape/tent-fun... well, its torture time! Its all been there exactly the same... the opening reminded me a hell lot of "Wolf creek". Most of all this is technically well done but scripting wise extremely cheesy and at no time chilling, shocking or loaded with any suspense. The kills suck big time... one guy gets an axe in his head in a trashy way I have't seen in a while and when crazy lady gets beheaded... damn that looks lame and computer- generated. And when you think you could have spend your time a lot better you get an ending thats first of all totally unbelievable and Hollywood happy romance and then even tops off with a more unbelievable return of dead and burned sickle man in the last shot (Oh no, please don't you dare to do a sequel!). Hell no... is that a serious movie? Come on, there are so many better movies with nearly the same plot... "Storm warning" comes to mind since its been released around the same time and delivers the violence far more realistic and serious way than this cheap try with a million holes in its paper thin and ripped off plot. Stay away!

Entertaining Horror film with some great dark humor

[Sweet_and_Lowdown77 · 29 October 2007]

I watched this film last week at the closing night of SCREAMFEST in LA. I have been looking forward to it for a while. The online reviews have been split, some love it, a few did not. I was curious.

This is a very entertaining film. It doesn't break too much new ground as far as setup. You got your "teaser" scene with a baddie doing bad things, then you intro the "heroes" going camping, and then the sh*t hits the fan. It's here where the film is not like others. It hits the same beats, but the story was unique and creepy and weird. DELIVERANCE, Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and MISERY were 3 films it's similar to.

Most horror films, of late, spend the 1st 30 minutes introducing the main characters and their petty problems, but then once the "evil" element kicks in, all those problems and character traits go away. TIMBER FALLS introduced things in the beginning that paid off in the end. The two leads (Josh Randall and Brianna Brown) were great. Josh in particular.

But the best actors and most interesting characters are IDA and CLYDE. The warped couple. The tag-line says "deranged locals and a gruesome plot." Well, it's not like HOSTEL or CAPTIVITY or HILLS HAVE EYES. This was an actual real plot. The gruesome scenes made sense. Not just for shock value. There was a real story here and cheap gross out tactics were not needed.

It's also about 1/2 way thru the film when the dark humor comes in. And it pays off great. The film isn't pretentious and does not take itself too seriously. I think a couple of the negative reviews probably missed out on this. There are still great jumps and scare moments, but the film definitely provides a lot of tension breaker moments. The crowd went wild and reacted great at all of these. I don't think watching this movie at home on DVD will have the same impact as watching it in the theaters with an audience.

The cast and director were at the screening. They announced the film is coming out in theaters in December in select cities.

This is not THE EXORCIST. It's not so super scary all the way through and it seemed to have a "this might be a hit so we need to tack on an ending that could leave film open to sequel" ending. But it has a great story, great acting. Good scare moments. Some gross stuff and some real, intentionally funny moments. When you see it, remember this line, "Things are starting to get out of hand here, y'all." It brought the house down.

Very well done.

Wrong Turn meets Misery

[Sham33 · 7/10 · 28 January 2008]

OK, this story is not so original. You've seen this too many times. I can name Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn, Misery and… too many to name. The good thing about this movie is that I actually care about the lead characters. It's not like those movies when you say "Kill them all". The violence is well-done and yes, this is not Torture Porn like The Saw and Hostel sequels. The make-up is fantastic and this movie doesn't have those dumb CGI. Great performances by the lead characters and by the killers too. If you want an enjoyable movie with a lot of tension and violence, you should check this out. You won't repent.

Absolutely Horrible

[StabKickPunch · 2/10 · 10 February 2008]

I don't even know where to start. I just finished watching this and i'm seriously angry. I'm angry that i actually wasted time watching it and I'm even more angry that this movie somehow has a rating of 5.8.

There is nothing worse than a crappy B horror movie that tries to make itself seem like a Hollywood blockbuster. And this film takes that to a whole new level.

Horrible story that we've all seen a thousand times before, stupid illogical character actions that just make you mad, a ridiculous ending and every single shitty cliché possible. The only thing, literally the only thing i could give this movie, was the acting was decent on the main characters.

This was really and truly a horrible movie.

Good, but we've seen this before

[jason_13 · 6/10 · 17 January 2008]

Timber Falls is the typical horror movie about teens having big troubles in the woods. Without introducing something we've never seen before, Timber Falls manages to be entertaining for the most part.

Mike and Sheryl are young, traveling couple whose destination is a lake in the woods. While enjoying the beauty of nature, the two meet inhospitable hunters who act weird only to steal $50 from the couple. After this bizarre event is forgotten, Mike and Sheryl spend the night in a tent. The problem is that they are not alone. Somebody spies on them. When Mike wakes up at the next morning, there is no Sheryl. Having realized something is terribly wrong, Mike goes after the hunters, blaming them for his girlfriend's disappearance. They are not the kidnappers though.

Timber Falls is not a waste of time although this storyline is really one of the biggest clichés around. Location - woods, characters - dumb, killers - disfigured or sheriffs. However, the movies has its moments for sure. The first 20 minutes are an almost perfect build-up for any kind of story. There is this beautiful location which helps for the increasing tension although I didn't feel tense. But it's there and it's obvious what purposes it serves. The second part is completely different with the characters being tortured underground. Maybe I didn't fall for that, but still, the first act is quite impressive for something that has been made for over three decades. Director Tony Giglio, although not experienced enough, has shot some good material. The opening sequence for example. We are shown a scared, tortured girl whose friends are supposedly killed, but we never get to see what happens to her. The scene's fast pace leaves the grotesque for the imagination. A very smart move by the creators although it does resemble Wrong Turn a bit.

Now, I do have some remarks concerning the acting. OK, I can live with Josh Randall's weird, never ending screams. I can even bare Brianna Brown's horrible performance in the second act, but I simply hated the villains. From what I understand, Beth Broderick, as the crazy old lady, is considered the highlight of the film. However, I have a completely different opinion about her heroine - Ida. I mean, this woman wasn't believable at all. She is one of the first supporting characters introduced and you could clearly tell she's not what it seems. Maybe, just maybe, that was intentional, but still, it's a terrible moment for the plot development, because you know the main characters will have an unpleasant, second encounter with that lady. As for Nick Searcy, who plays Ida's husband - well, I didn't care about him. He was impersonal and tedious. Besides, his overacting was irritating. Good that there is this German guy who plays a disfigured retard who does the dirty work for the old couple. He's a nice addition to the otherwise boring villains.

Overally, Timber Falls is worth a look. It's flawed, but the final result is rather satisfying. Check it out.

Terrible

[moonpig82 · 1/10 · 26 November 2008]

This is one of the worst horror movies i have ever seen. Where do i start? First of all the 2 main characters. I know horror movie characters are supposed to be stupid but they were something else. They take a completely different route to the ones the ranger has advised, they start having sex in broad daylight out in the middle of nowhere with no idea of who is around then after their run in with the hunters Sheryl makes her boyfriend get rid of the bullets for the only weapon they have! Three men with guns have just seen you half naked and menaced you so you make yourself defenceless. Good idea! Then there are the baddies. The typical religious nutters who seem to keep cropping up in horror movies. They aren't in the least bit scary and every time one of them started spouting off i had to fast forward the DVD. I won't say the reason why they are kidnapping couples but it is beyond ridiculous. I think my reaction was "you are joking aren't you?" when it was revealed. Most of the film is dull although it does pick up in the last half hour. There is a bit of action and gore but nothing exciting. The last "twist" in the film is stupid and unnecessary. I knew what was going to happen but i was hoping they wouldn't do it because the film would actually have been better without that final moment. The acting is fairly good for a horror movie and the effects are well done but that's all the positive things i can say about it. I rolled my eyes so much during the film they hurt and i definitely wouldn't recommend it. I understand they were trying to do something different other than the usual "cannibals in the woods" but it just didn't work. I didn't care and i just found it a frustrating and boring watch.

Timber Falls stands up!

[bigdarvick · 8/10 · 21 June 2008]

I reluctantly rented this movie after passing over it repeatedly at my local RedBox. From the DVD cover art and that fact that I've rented quite a few low budget stinkers from RedBox, gave me pause to ponder. I paid my 1.07 and brought it home thinking that I was in for another cheap digital, direct to DVD bomb (see Full Moon's "Petrified" for all time worst movie.) Maybe I'd get a couple of "Plan 9" type laughs out of Timber Falls. Boy, was I wrong!! This movie was tight and scary. Sure I've seen this type of plot line a dozen times or so, but what the hell--I love those predictable zombie movies too and will rent them religiously. Timber Falls was well crafted and moved at a brisk pace. It easily held my attention and I had only paused it for one trip to the bathroom. That says a lot, because when bored, I will usually get up multiple times from my living room couch to meander around the crib. The acting was very good and believable. There were a few scenes that I could've done without, but as a whole, the movie had me jumping up and down and wringing my hands like an old Jewish bubby that just found out her grandson married a shiksa. I highly recommend this movie and give it a huge "welcome to my vault of horror."

Don't go hiking on the religious hillbilly trail, duh!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 6 October 2014]

Where to begin with "Timber Falls", as I honestly can't decide whether I should be harsh or mild in my user comment? On one hand, it's an admirably tense nowadays horror flick with brutal gore, lovely filming locations and identifiable main characters, but on the other hand it serves cliché after cliché and it's full of predictable twists. I liked the realism of the character drawings and for once the lead protagonists Mike and Sheryl are okay people that you actually wish to survive their ordeal, but fact remains that you've seen this exact same story dozens of times before and I can't filter out any aspect that is unique. Young couple goes hiking in a West Virginian national park (although for budgetary reasons the film is actually shot in Romania) where they ask the wrong persons for directions and end up in the torture dungeon of a deranged hillbilly family with a deformed son. What else can I add that you can't figure out by yourself? That the kidnappers are disturbed religious fanatics? Nope, that's hardly innovative either. That their deformed adolescent son is a perverted rapist with a nasty scythe for a toy? That's also not a big surprise, I guess… And yet, I would still encourage genre admirers to check "Timber Falls" out, because it's a competently made and unhinged horror flick that doesn't feature any boring moments. The performances of Josh Randall and the beautiful Brianna Brown are more than adequate and TV-starlet Beth Broderick ("Lost", "Sabrina Teenage Witch") clearly had a field day depicting the deranged backwoods bitch Ida. Oh, perhaps one thing that features here and you won't find in similar gore flicks: the ending. But I won't ruin it

Clichés Abound

[sddavis63 · 3/10 · 28 October 2010]

All the major clichés of the genre seem to get wound up in this movie. A young couple go camping in the mountains of West Virginia and end up in the clutches of a murderous local backwoods (and somewhat backwards) family. How original can this be? Well, the answer is not very. About the only part of the standard cliché that was left out was cannibalism! It's not that the movie was a waste. It actually had quite an eye- catching opening, and the performances were surprisingly good (a judgment which may admittedly be more a factor of my own low expectations than anything.) For a while there's also a pretty fair level of suspense, and good use of the setting.

But the good is outweighed by more problematic aspects to the story. My first question revolved around why this couple even got into this situation. They were warned to stay off all but two trails. Then, when they first ran into trouble on the trail they chose (not one of the two,) why continue on. After an encounter with that first group of backwoods thugs, I think I'd have gotten out of there as fast as I could. The movie ends up going for one of the unfortunate choice to make the backwoods killer family a bunch of religious wackos, for no truly obvious reason that I could see, but crosses certainly abound in this. The movie gets increasing and graphically gory as it moves along, and some of the gore near the end comes across as silly rather than believable. It all culminated in an admittedly unexpected but also completely inexplicable (and somewhat nonsensical) very last shot before the credits begin to roll.

Granted that there are some good things involved with this, but they can't save an unoriginal, cliché-ridden piece of work.

We're not violent people, Michael. It pains us to pain you.

[lastliberal · 4/10 · 9 December 2008]

For the life of me I cannot understand why Michael (Josh Randall - "Ed") would bother going after Sheryl (Brianna Brown). All she did the first 30 minutes of this movie was whine and complain.

There is nothing new or original here. It's the same story about inbred mountain folk and their bizarre rituals - this time with a really interesting weapon.

You have the usual torture, and a nice decapitation, but it never really gets to the level we are used to. The ending just doesn't make sense, either.

Go watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre again instead.

"Prey for the victims."

[Backlash007 · 22 June 2008]

~Spoiler~

More like PRAY for the viewers! The man that brought us Soccer Dog: The Movie is back with Timber Falls. And it's one big Texas Chainsaw Massacre cliché after another. Crazed hillbillies: check. Deformed lunatic with a signature weapon: check. People you think you can trust but later turn out to be evil: double check. I have a hard time believing the good buzz that made me rent this awful flick. I could almost understand a decent review from people who had never seen ANY backwoods slasher flick. But some credible sources were saying this was good??? Well let me set the record straight folks. Timber Falls sucks. Here's three humorous reasons why. Number 1: The villains are torturing the characters under their house. The lead baddie tells them to scream all they want because they are thirty feet underground and no one can here them. Later in the film, whilst thirty feet underground where no one can hear you scream, the villain here's a pane of glass break from the upstairs door. Number 2: If you unload a double barrel shotgun at point blank range at someone's face, there will be no head left on their corpse. Number 3: The "one year later" ending commits the ultimate slasher film cliché and has the long dead killer (from one year ago no less) pop back up for one last scare. There are many other, more obvious reasons not to see Timber Falls. Trust me, you've seen this film a thousand times. And you've seen it a thousand times better.

Much to recommend it within the genre

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 21 July 2010]

The problem with horror films is that the genre is fairly limiting - there are only so many scenarios and, once you have opted for one of them, all that remains is variations on a theme.

This particular movie falls squarely into a fairly well populated group of films, all of which feature nice young people held (and mistreated) by weirdos in a remote cabin in the woods. The formula is more or less set in concrete, all that is left is the precise nature of the weirdos (inbred deformity, check; apparently nice person who is as bad as the rest, check; surprise twist person who you thought was going to help but turns out to be one of them, check) and the reason why the nice young people are being held - this turns out to be fairly original, and gives rise to some interesting script elements, which is one of the reasons why Timber Falls is a cut above the average for this kind of movie.

Also, it generates quite a lot of suspense and tension, and a feeling that the two victims are in genuine jeopardy. The weirdos are pleasingly loopy-appearing-normal, there is some fairly well done nastiness, and the whole thing canters along in a relatively well choreographed way. The performances are pretty good, and the cinematography isn't bad either. As an entry in the genre it is entirely unexceptional but, within that limitation (and given that it appears to be relatively low budget), it is not bad at all.

So Bad, It's SCARY.

[Brakathor · 2/10 · 17 February 2008]

What do we have here? Another movie trying to shock us with insane bastardised Christians who think the phrase "thou shalt not take the lords name in vain." is the way into heaven, whereas the phrase "thou shalt not kill" is just symbolic and not worth following.

The story is about a couple from the city who decide a fun way to spend the weekend would be to go hiking in hickville U.S.A., but even the movie "Deliverance" couldn't have prepared them for what was about to take place... for 2 reasons.... 1. Rape is anti Christian and would prevent the thousands of teenagers from seeing this movie, thus costing the producer millions as a result... and 2. Who the hell would have ever expected a national park to be busier than the park nearest your house? Seriously I've been hiking many times myself in park and mountain trails sometimes within city limits and I would seldom come across other hikers much less 3 separate groups of them as in the movie, who show up again and AGAIN on the same hiking trail, led alone the fact that all of them are either some brand of psycho or lowlife in general. To clarify one thing, Timber Falls is not a town but merely an area off a hiking trail. But don't worry, this was all PLANNED if that's supposed to be an asset in movies these days. Yes, all of them are plot devices who appear again later just HAPPENING to run into the 2 protagonists once more. "oops i accidentally stepped in a bear trap while walking backwards, but thankfully the same crazy old lady i met earlier was able to find me 10 seconds later and bring me back to her house" For example what would have made more sense rather than each character making their little introductions along the trail before being part of the story is if they appeared just ONCE rather than reappearing. Also The dialogue isn't exactly fantastic and it seems so much like the actors just coming on screen to say "Hello, I will be playing the old lady" "hello, i will be playing the cop" and at 100 minutes running time it's not like they needed any filler, though I will say that the actors put out an honest good effort. There's not much else to say other than the whole movie is so contrived and unrealistic.

Other than that, if while watching the movie you ever had any doubts as to whether it was a total piece of junk or not, the twist in the end is likely to affirm your initial impulse which would have been to throw it out the window and never see it again. All I will say about that, is imagine setting someone on fire with a Molotov cocktail in the rain, in a place hundreds of miles away from your house, who was a monstrous burn victim in the first place and then having that same person who apparently burned to death as a result, end up somehow tracking you down. Also if you threw a Molotov cocktail on someone who happened to be wearing a trenchcoat, and it happened to shatter, only the area touched by the alcohol would be set on fire initially and it wouldn't be able to envelop his entire body within seconds; Literally all he would have to do is casually take his coat off... plus it was raining. So much for their intended irony of "he was set on fire... AGAIN"

I personally found a movie like "Deliverance", which isn't even considered a horror movie by most, much more terrifying in its harsh realism rather than this fake attempt at horror. I've officially lost all faith in the horror genre, since 90% of horror films are like this; contrived and completely unrealistic, and ultimately it is hard to be scared or shocked by what you can't accept as at least halfway plausible.

The wood as an environment for horror

[hasosch · 7/10 · 26 October 2009]

"Timber Falls" (2007) would not be a bad movie had the director not decided to fancy up the last part and especially chosen an ineffably stupid end. Since many people have criticized that the basic motive of the movie is known, let us investigate a bit.

In "Timber Falls" as well as in related horror movies, two persons, mostly a young man and his girlfriend, end up in a forest, may it be because of vacation, by accident amidst of a road, by a fraternity prank or whatever. In the forest, they meet either human or supra-natural beings mostly practicing killings. The couple is caught and, after a usually longer period of torture which fills almost the whole movies, they succeed in escaping. Only is the past 2 or 3 years, the following movies (a very short selection) follow this motive with only little variation: The Lodge (2007), Dead of Winter (2007), Wind Chill (2007), Scarce (2008), "The Last House on the Left" (2009), the letter combining the "forest"-motive with the also recently very wide-spread "lake"-motive on or out of which corpses, with or without supra-natural strength, are appearing.

From the history of horror, especially in the USA, this motive is salient, since the gigantic forests of the New World are not populated by Erl Kings, Libussas, Elfs and other ghosts like the woods in the Old World are. The forests of the New World are rather conspicuous National Parks with well-defined clean streets, constant bivouacking control, selected fire-places, fenced-in forbidden areas and so on. There are no secrets from thousands of years ago, because no Celts, no Romans, no Mesopotamians etc. have chosen these former rain-forests for their dwellings or pavemented war-roads through it which are still governed by their ghosts living under the ruins. So, where does this recently upcoming motive of the "haunted" forests, lakes, mountains come from? I would say, there are three sources: The first source is the one from which Stephen Kings obtains his whole material for his novels, the legends from the early settlers of New England which have been brought over centuries ago and may have survived, partly mixed with local Indian legends, up to the present. The second source is the spreading of typical European horror motives in mostly German horror movies since the Fifties. One good candidate for inspiration of horror in the New World is "It Happened on Broad Daylight" (1958) with Gert Fröbe, in which young girls are killed in a dark forest by an evil "wizzard". The third source, which I cannot prove, but am convinced about its existence, is the re-settlement of (traditional or invented) New England-horror motives in the rest of the USA, and may it be for purely practical sake of film making: Everybody who lives in that area, will tell down to his grand-children that according to that movie, this or that happened in those forests. So, legends arise, and, frankly, not even much different from those of former times, with the only distinction that these were not transported by movies but solely by everyday talking.

Oh, just what we needed . . .

[Bou · 2/10 · 20 September 2009]

. . . yet another backwoods, genetically played-out bunch of rapists and murderers. I'd actually had a decent run lately of NOT saying, "Well, there's another 97 minutes of my life I'll never get back"--and, hey, I watch reality TV, people.

Where to start? Well, how about at the start, when we know immediately that the gun and phone will both be needed. Could it be any heavier-handed? Well, sure it could. Like naming one of the trails the Donner Trail. Somewhat less so is the reference to Willow Creek Trail (Willow Creek being one of the U.S.'s most influential evangelical megachurches), but combine that with the stranger lady's remarks about wedding rings and things being equal in the eyes of the Lord, and the couple's immediate confession (why, to this total stranger?) that they aren't married, and you have a good idea where this is going.

Very shortly, the film becomes, in my mind, unforgivable. It's bad enough that our couple decides a tentless, broad-daylight rut in the woods is a good way to get some rest on the hike, but that Our Hero not only doesn't shoot any or all of the three rubes but obeys his girlfriend's unfathomable insistence that he rid his gun of all the bullets is beyond the pale. I mean, heck, I'm a pacifist, antivivisectionist vegetarian with Mennonite and Jainist tendencies, and I'm pretty sure I'd have shot the weirdos in the kneecaps and got outta Dodge.

And then Cheryl--she who originally seemed to have some brights because she insisted on taking the phone--not only feels frisky that night, after the twisted events of the day, but decides to take a solitary nude dip in the lake at dawn? Sh-yeah, right. That's exactly what you'd do if some menacing creep with a gun had been sniffing the crotch of your jeans, I'll bet.

Like something else I've heard tell of, this just kept rolling downhill. The cinematic ripoffs proliferated (even ripping off Dusk Till Dawn via Deacon's fantasy), and there wasn't a single shock or chill, although there was plenty of the disgusting. The one thing I will credit it for plotwise is that although it included torture--and I am fed up to here with torture in the genre--there was actually a motive behind it that the bad guys could allow themselves to believe in. (Not that that carries a whole lot of weight for me. The Saw crap tries the same thing, and should utterly fail in the mind of any halfway sane person.) Because of this, the bizarre wedding scene, and the usually reasonable production values, I give it a 2 instead of a 1, although I am sorely tempted to deduct both points on the basis of the last second of the film.

One last thing--I'm not only tired of stupid stupid stupid characters and disgusting stuff passing as horror, I'm a little cheesed at religious people so often being depicted as deranged. I could not help, watching this schlock, remembering when my Jewish ex-boyfriend and I went primitive camping in the UP of Michigan some 35 years ago. This was in an era when a LOT of people really did revile you for living together before marriage, and when being a non-Christian American seemed rather rare. We met a born-again Christian and his Catholic wife, who not only did not shame us for our religious views and marital status (which were divulged naturally in the course of conversation) but put up a tarp for us in a rainstorm and then shared their dry firewood and fresh fish with us, sitting up late into the night, talking, drinking coffee, and being kind. I never saw them again--although we did correspond a little that year--but I have never forgotten them and their kindness and acceptance. I wish I'd spent 97 minutes last night trying to find out what had become of them instead.

To the peeps sayin it's been done before

[jgkelley-48797 · 6/10 · 11 February 2021]

Get used to it! We are only going on ova 100yrs of movie cinema 😂

Good luck trying to find something that hasn't been done before. Please post if u find it. Then we can all reassure u that it's been done before. Doesn't matter if somethings been done before. Different characters, different place, different time usually & usually there's a lot more different than that. I've seen 100 serial killer movies, I'm gonna keep watching em. I've seen thousands of slashers. I'm gonna keep watching em & not gonna say after, "wtf, how many times do I have to watch teens get killed by a maniac". When I can comprehend that just cuz it's a maniac whacking kids doesn't mean it's just like the rest. Obv some outliers where the movie is like almost a bad remake but most of time that is not the case. Most of the time it's just a similar story with a similar plot & thats cuz we don't live the most complex of lives as humans. It's not like there's 10 billion storylines that are unique to themselves that nobody else has ever seen a group of humans do. I think when people realize that fact they maybe will be able to start enjoying movies again & not just rating every movie they see with 1,2 or 9 & zero thought put into it. Pretending ur writing a mock for part of a film class final & rating average movies at worst with a 1 totally just kill ur credibility

Cliché and horrible religious talk

[orlandoblooms-140-414927 · 1/10 · 28 September 2012]

I skipped supernatural for this? It's extremely cliché and Wrong turn was better. When they lady got decapitated the graphics were terrible. If you expect anyone to still be pregnant after all that? Then there's seriously something wrong. Someone who was pregnant and then went into a situation like that would have lost it. Then the ending? Really!?! I'm sure Deacon is dead and wouldn't come back so the double sided sickle wouldn't have appeared. I really hope there isn't a sequel! Especially after the disaster of a movie this was! You could tell that when Micheal was being punched for using foul language that it was faked. Especially when the camera angle was turned to face them as a side view and you couldn't see the guys fist connect with the others face. There were no bruises or marks showing he was punched.

Wow this movie has been out for 4 years and I'm just seeing it!

[psi-753-181555 · 8/10 · 26 April 2011]

I am a pretty picky Horror movie fan and I gotta say, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. Original enough of a storyline (for this type of West Virgia "backwoods" style movie) Twists, turns, and just enough gore to appease the gore hound in me. If you like hills have eyes, river runs red, wrong turn or any like style movie, you are sure to enjoy this one. The cast and characters are believable enough to make this movie work. I saw some pretty nasty reviews about this movie and I don't know why. It wasn't like Staunton Hill where you had to wait for a week and a half for something to happen. I would rate it a 8.5/10

So-so survival horror with strong religious overtones.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 30 September 2008]

A couple Mike and Sheryl are going off into the West Wirgina woods for the weekend of hiking.Their main goal is to see the titular falls.They don't know that there is a danger lurking deep in the woods.A crazy family of religious freaks kidnaps unsuspecting tourists,torture and kill them.They are trying to coerce Sheryl and Mike into having sex in order to provide them with a baby."Timber Falls" pretty much reminded me "Wrong Turn" and every other survival flick I have seen including "Deliverance".Admittedly three hunters selling moonshine in the woods are pretty amusing,but the film relies too much on clichés.The plot is predictable and the gore is quite plentiful.One thing for sure:the scenery of West Virginia is delightful.6 out of 10.

dull as dishwater

[samax_89 · 2/10 · 6 August 2009]

First and foremost I was'nt expecting a 'classic' by any means, and as a lifelong horror fan i left overt criticism behind a long time ago,but after watching 'timber falls'i felt compelled to write.

This film's problem is'nt that it's Derivative -i could watch limitless variation's on the deliverance theme - more it's guilty of one of the worst sins (pardon the pun) of any film genre(the horror genre especially) and that is of being as dull as hell.

If the script writers of this yawnathon injected anymore life into the dialogue it would be a barely twitching corpse,you have too wait over an hour for any near decent gore and when it comes it's all cgi'ed and sterile (imagine tom savini after a lobotomy given free reign with an apple mac) and the casting isn't great either the two main leads being remarkably wooden and even the hillbilly bullies looked and acted like'one tree hill' extra's who haven't shaved for a couple of days.

Being a huge horror movie fan i often have to justify my love of this much mocked film genre to non horror fan friends,sadly with uninspired boreathons like 'timber falls',it's sadly all to easy to see where there coming from.