A Night in the Woods | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Parry |
Written by | Richard Parry |
Produced by | Allan Niblo James Richardson |
Starring | Anna Skellern Scoot McNairy Andrew Hawley |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Momentum Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 79 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
A Night in the Woods is a 2011 British found footage horror film written and directed by Richard Parry. [2] The film premiered at the United Kingdom film festival Fright Fest in August 2011. [3] A Night in the Woods was produced by Vertigo Films and stars Anna Skellern, Scoot McNairy, and Andrew Hawley. [4]
The film follows Londoner Kerry (Anna Skellern) and her American boyfriend Brody (Scoot McNairy) as they travel to Dartmoor for a camping trip. Brody has decided to document their trip with his video camera. He grows irritated and jealous when Kerry invites her cousin Leo (Andrew Hawley), although Brody tries to hide this by acting friendly towards Leo. The trio stops by a pub, where they hear the story of a local legend called The Huntsman, who carves crosses into the foreheads of sinners before killing them.
Brody grows increasingly more jealous of Leo after seeing him and Kerry joking around, making him doubt Kerry’s claims that Leo is her cousin. Things grow more tense as he confronts Leo over footage of Leo sneaking into Kerry and Brody’s home. Brody attempts to catch Kerry and Leo by setting his camera up in the tent, which proves to be effective. It is revealed that not only are the two not related, but that they used to be lovers and Kerry lied to Brody in order to make things easier. Left alone, Kerry and Leo begin to have a fling, which is cut short when Leo hurts Kerry. He tries to apologize, but is rejected when he suggests that Brody is trying to replace her recently dead father. Leo then leaves Kerry alone in the woods.
Strange things begin to happen around the now alone Kerry such as strange noises and nooses tied to tree branches. Kerry is then chased into the woods by an unseen force, who knocks her out and carves a cross on her forehead. She manages to regain consciousness and returns to the campsite, where she angrily discovers the camera that Brody had set up in the tent as well as footage he had been secretly recording of her. This is further exacerbated by footage of her experiencing a nightmare while sleeping as well as a clip of Brody discussing plans to abandon Kerry in the woods so she can experience a solitude that he once experienced in exactly the same woods 10 years earlier. This infuriates Kerry, who then turns to the camera and threatens to hurt Brody. Her anger is cut somewhat short when the tent is violently shaken and she discovers a devastated Leo, all bruised and cut. Kerry tries to help him, but he attacks her in a fit of rage and chases her into the woods. She runs into a bruised and bleeding Brody, who convinces her that Leo is not himself and that they are being hunted by an unknown force. They try to find a way out of the woods, but Kerry fights with Brody after discovering Leo’s bracelet on the ground and suspecting Brody of wrongdoing. She manages to fight Brody off, killing him in the process but leaving her alone and hunted in the woods.
Kerry then discovers Leo’s digital camera on the ground, where she views a clip of Brody being attacked and dragged away by an unseen assailant. Frightened, Kerry tries to find a way out but is attacked, causing the camera to cut to black.
Critical reception for the film has been mixed, [5] with the film holding a 42% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews. [6] The Daily Record gave A Night in the Woods two out of five stars, criticizing the film as a Blair Witch Project ripoff that "fails to provide any real moments of horror". [7] Screen Daily remarked that the last part of the film was "shades a little too much into incomprehensibility" but praised the film's acting. [8]
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard—who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, in 1994 to film a documentary about a local myth known as the Blair Witch. The three disappear, but their equipment and footage are discovered a year later. The purportedly "found footage" is the movie the viewer sees.
Timber Falls is a 2007 American horror film directed by Tony Giglio and starring Josh Randall and Brianna Brown. In Brazil it was released with the title Wrong Turn 2. In Mexico it was released with the title Wrong Turn 3.
Evil Things is a 2009 American horror film written and directed by Dominic Perez as his feature film debut.
Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film produced, written, directed, photographed and edited by Oren Peli. It centers on a young couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence inside their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film uses found-footage conventions that were mirrored in the later films of the series.
Kerry Lynne Bishé is a New Zealand-born American actress. She is best known for her roles as Donna Clark in the AMC period drama series Halt and Catch Fire (2014–2017) and Lucy Bennett, the lead/narrator in the final season of the ABC medical sitcom Scrubs (2009–2010). She is also known for her supporting role in the drama film Argo (2012).
Monsters is a 2010 British science-fiction horror film written and directed by Gareth Edwards. Edwards also served as the cinematographer, production designer, and a visual effects artist. The film takes place years after a NASA probe crashed in Mexico, which leads to the sudden appearance of giant tentacled monsters. It follows Andrew Kaulder, an American photojournalist tasked with escorting his employer's daughter Samantha Wynden back to the United States by crossing through Mexico's "Infected Zone", where the creatures reside.
Whitney Nees Able is an American actress and model. She is best known for her roles in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) and Monsters (2010), and has been featured in Maxim magazine.
The Tunnel is a 2011 Australian found-footage monster horror film directed by Carlo Ledesma and co-written, co-produced, and co-edited by Julian Harvey and Enzo Tedeschi. The film stars Bel Deliá, Andy Rodoreda, Steve Davis, Luke Arnold, Goran D. Kleut, and James Caitlin in a documentary-style horror story set in the underground network of abandoned railway tunnels in Sydney, Australia, where a journalist and her crew discover an evil, flesh-eating creature lurking within the tunnels.
V/H/S is a 2012 American found footage horror anthology film and the first installment in the V/H/S franchise created by Brad Miska and Bloody Disgusting and produced by Miska and Roxanne Benjamin. It features a series of found footage shorts written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the filmmaking collective Radio Silence.
Sinister is a 2012 supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by C. Robert Cargill and Derrickson. It shows Ethan Hawke as a struggling true-crime writer whose discovery of snuff films depicting gruesome murders in his new house puts his family in danger. Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, and Michael Hall D'Addario appear in supporting roles.
Curse of Chucky is a 2013 American slasher film and the sixth installment of the Child's Play franchise. The film was written and directed by Don Mancini, who created the franchise and wrote the first six films. It stars Fiona Dourif, Danielle Bisutti, Brennan Elliott, Maitland McConnell, Chantal Quesnelle, Summer Howell, A Martinez, and Brad Dourif. The film grossed $3.8 million in DVD sales.
Frank and Cindy is a 2015 comedy film written and directed by G.J. Echternkamp. The film stars Rene Russo, Oliver Platt, Johnny Simmons, Jane Levy, and Marc Maron and is based on the true story and the 2007 documentary of the same name.
The Inside is a 2012 Irish horror thriller film directed, written and produced by Eoin Macken. The film is about a group of young women who hold a party at a disused warehouse where they are violently attacked by a gang of vagrants before a malevolent, supernatural force is unleashed.
Honeymoon is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by Leigh Janiak in her feature directorial debut, from a screenplay by Janiak and Phil Graziadei. It stars Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway as a newly married couple whose honeymoon ends up being plagued by a series of strange events. The film had its world premiere on March 7, 2014, at South by Southwest, and was theatrically released by Magnolia Pictures on September 12, 2014.
Stage Fright is a 2014 Canadian musical comedy slasher film directed by Jerome Sable and is his feature-film directorial debut. The film had its world release on March 10, 2014 at South by Southwest, a VOD release on April 3, 2014, and a theatrical release on May 9. It stars Allie MacDonald as a hopeful young singer terrorized by a killer at a musical theater camp.
The Visit is a 2015 American found footage horror film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn. The film centers around two young siblings, teenage girl Becca (DeJonge) and her younger brother Tyler (Oxenbould) who go to stay with their estranged grandparents. During their stay, the siblings notice their grandparents behaving bizarrely and they set out to find the truth behind the strange circumstances at the farmstead.
Soulmate is a 2013 British mystery horror film directed by Axelle Carolyn in her feature film directorial debut. The film stars Anna Walton as a woman who travels to the countryside to recuperate after a suicide attempt but finds that her cottage is haunted by a ghost.
Farhope Tower is a 2015 Canadian thriller film directed by and starring April Mullen.
The Scooby-Doo Project is a 1999 American live-action/animated found footage horror comedy television Halloween special satirising The Blair Witch Project and the Scooby-Doo franchise. It aired during Cartoon Network's Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! marathon on October 31, 1999, broadcast in small segments during commercial breaks, with the segments re-aired in their completed form, with an extended ending, at the end of the marathon. The special won an Annie Award. The special marks Mary Kay Bergman's final performance as Daphne, as she had committed suicide months prior.
Deadstream is a 2022 American supernatural horror comedy film directed, written, produced and edited by wife and husband Vanessa and Joseph Winter in their directorial debut, with Joseph also acting as lead actor and soundtrack composer.