{"id":3981,"date":"2015-07-17T05:46:59","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T12:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3981"},"modified":"2015-07-17T05:46:59","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T12:46:59","slug":"review-girl-in-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3981","title":{"rendered":"Review: GIRL IN WOODS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen<\/a>\"fixbutton\"<\/a>Grace gets lost. But she was lost way before a tragic accident leaves her alone and without a way home in the rural Tennessee mountains. And with little outdoor survival skills, Grace must listen to her inner voice in order to make it. But it\u2019s that inner voice that\u2019s scarier than anything lurking in the woods.<\/p>\n

Writer\/director Jeremy Benson is sure to break out of the pack with his arty horror entry \u201cGirl in Woods.\u201d Conceived as a minimalist psychological horror-thriller, the film eventually morphed into something far more significant as Benson and his close-nit team shot one version of the film only to retool that version with new cast members to produce the eventual final edit. This is not uncommon in the movie business\u2014original scripts are often tinkered with and changed once shooting begins. What appears to work on the page, sometimes doesn\u2019t on screen. Having seen the progress of \u201cGirl in Woods,\u201d I can say that from start to finish, Benson\u2019s original ideas have translated nicely delivering a film of rich quality and deep emotion. And he gives us several truly frightening moments and the potential for more to come. This \u201corigin story\u201d has franchise written all over it.<\/p>\n

\u201cGirl in Woods\u201d starts with Grace (Juliet Reeves London) and her boyfriend Jim (Jeremy London) traveling to the Smoky Mountains for a weekend getaway. Once tucked away in a cabin, the two set out on a long hike into the woods. But when something tragic happens to Jim, Grace is left to fend for herself. Without cell phone coverage, GPS, or any real outdoor skills, Grace gets ever more lost. But this alone time frees something within her that was previously suppressed by medication. There\u2019s more to Grace than just Grace.<\/p>\n

An intelligent take on the psychological horror sub-genre that deals with split personality and mental illness, Benson\u2019s script aims to be more than just an opportunity for a few good jumps and some gruesome gore. Sure, there are scary and bloody moments, but Benson takes his time introducing us to Grace and her sad backstory, which involves troubles as a child with her mother (Charisma Carpenter) and her father (Lee Perkins). The film even takes time for sensitive moments between Grace and her grandfather (played well by the late John Still).<\/p>\n

Benson has become known as a horror filmmaker. His \u201cLive Animals\u201d back in 2008 has been seen all over the world. But there was a time when his focus was on drama, with his film \u201cThe Smallest Oceans\u201d about a father and a son. He is not your garden-variety horror director, and with \u201cGirl in Woods,\u201d he gives us something deeper than the typical low budget horror fare. And that is undeniably a good thing. \u201cGirl is Woods\u201d is a very good film.<\/p>\n

Note: My late friend Rusty White, a fine film critic and horror film expert, was involved in the making of \u201cGirl in Woods\u201d prior to his untimely death. He was a steadfast supporter of Jeremy Benson and helped him with many of his productions. Rusty would have been so proud of Jeremy had he seen the final version of the film. \u201cGirl in Woods\u201d shows off the potential Rusty always said Jeremy had as a writer and filmmaker.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indie horror auteur Jeremy Benson’s latest makes getting lost scary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3985,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981\/revisions\/3985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}