The film’s trailer for She Came From the Woods, looks and sounds phenomenal. Atmospherically, you can’t beat a 1980s throwback slasher horror. The 80s as a theme is generally on trend at any time. The movie is set in a summer camp with stereotypically diverse characters. Overall, the intention of the narrative is a lot of fun. Family secrets come back to haunt the camp’s founding family, The McCalisters. The staff celebrates the end of the holidays by performing a tongue-in-cheek ritual in the woods. Borne from bedtime stories and campfire tales, the myth of Agatha was used to scare kids who visited the grounds. It also played a big part in scaring the MaCalister children as they grew up.
The title uses flashbacks to shine a light on the story’s past. The urban legend of Agatha is unleashed in a slow succession of steady and gruesome murders. Camp leaders split up their relative tasks, with the older and more responsible brother Shawn (Tyler Elliott Burke) heading off in the camp bus to ferry a load of children back to the city. Younger brother Peter (Spencer List) is left to his own devices and is subsequently the ringleader of recreating the blood ritual said to bring the evil demon Agatha back to life.
The chaos ramps up slowly. There are hints that something is amiss when the bus breaks down in a cornfield. Shawn heads outside to try and fix the broken-down vehicle. Moments later he discovers his cargo load of kids vanishes into thin air. Back at camp, Danny’s rejection from another counselor he has a crush on turns deadly. From this moment the bodies begin to mount.
She Came From the Woods is generally what you would expect of a slasher movie. And for most of the first half, it resembled a solid slasher at that. The storyline is well-built thanks to the writers Erik Bloomquist and Carson Bloomquist (Long Lost, Ten Minutes to Midnight.) But horror and comedy together in a generic storyline is a tough area to finesse. While some audiences will love the scrambling onslaught of being a bit silly, others will find it tough to take.
Overall, while I liked She Came From the Woods, it certainly won’t be something I would watch again. The special effects were also a little hit-and-miss. Some scenes show some great blood-spatter and others should have been left on the cutting room floor. Performances were excellent throughout the whole film, carrying anything too annoying into a much palatable territory.
Possessed Children and Slasher Horror
Chock full of horror tropes like the classic tripping over nothing at an inopportune time and children in a cornfield. She Came From the Woods gives the nod in several directions toward horror movies we love. I was reminded of the very over-the-top film “Scout’s Guide to the Apocalypse” as soon as the missing children reappeared back at camp with a new hearty penchant for all living things.
She Came From The Woods Movie is rated
3 Stop, Drop, and Roll out of 5
Theatrical Release Date: February 10, 2023
Directed by: Erik Bloomquist
Written by: Erik Bloomquist, Carson Bloomquist
She Came From the Woods Cast: Cara Buono, William Sadler, Clare Foley, Spencer List. Add to that Michael Park, Tyler Elliot Burke, Adam Weppler, Ehad Berisha, Giselle Torres, Dań Leahy, Sienna Hubert-Ross, Erik Blomquist, Emily Keefe
This film was provided by Blue Finch Films and produced by Mainframe Pictures. Mother of Movies supports independent feature films.
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