Review of A Night in the Woods (2011) by Daniel P — 14 Oct 2011

Yet another 'found footage' faux documentary, this one is so similar to The Blair Witch Project it's practically a remake. A boyfriend and girlfriend decide to go on a camping trip in Dartmoor along with a cousin with an apparent complicated 'history'.

The woods they are staying in are purportedly full of ghosts/spirits/whatever (there's some 'vox pops' of people in a pub giving their versions, just like the local in BWP talk about the witch), and you betcha, there's some strange noises in them there woods.

The spin with A Night In The Woods is that it appears at least one of the party are already a bit loopy and there's some interest in trying to determine if the strangeness that's happening is to do with things in the woods, things 'possessing' one or more of the three, or whether it's entirely down to human interference, or a combination.

The film is well acted and has a couple of decent scares, but there's absolutely nothing new here and the 'found footage' sub-genre really is running out of new tricks. To top it off, the denouement is practically a re-hash of The Blair Witch Project (there's some beats similar to the 'figure standing in a corner looking at the wall' familiar from the closing moments) but doesn't have anything like that superior film's power.

Not much worth bothering with then, sadly. I do like Scott McNairy though - he deserves better films.