Review of Backcountry (2015) by Kate H — 06 Nov 2015

So I first was interested in this film because the trailer presented a lost in the woods story that looked somewhat interesting. It did not tell you what was in the woods or anything. I was mildly disappointed that cover of the DVD gave that part of the film away.

Things I liked: it's believable (based on a true story aside) even to the point of me being really annoyed with Alex, severely creeped out by Brad, and mostly feeling bad for Jenn. Seems plausible, even the ridiculous things that Alex does that are stupidly bad ideas. Not all of them however; I have no sympathy for someone who refuses good advice like having a map on the pretense of looking good for someone they're dating. I also appreciated the reactions to their predicament making sense and the minimalist soundtrack. It made later noise cutting through silence that much more striking.

What I didn't like: the complete lack of tension. At least for me. A lot of that was spoiled I think by knowing what was going to be in the forest so I was just patiently waiting for the inevitable. No holds barred on that front by the way. Everything went precisely according to worst case scenario. That being said I do feel weird commenting on that because this is based on an actual event (I mean actually this not 'true' like that) but the pitch of it as a horror film was possibly the wrong way to go. Yes it is scary for sure but it doesn't really work the way a horror film works. Thriller or drama is certainly more appropriate here and I think expecting a horror film coloured my expectations by a lot.