Reviewed by Geno McGahee
So many bad things happen in the woods, and in the Mad Angel production “THREE DAYS IN THE WOODS,” we see yet another example. Written by Mark Joseph Peek and Directed by Matthew A. Peters, we are brought into an homage of the 1970’s brand of raw horror, capturing some of the feel of the original “THE HILLS HAVE EYES” and “TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.”
We begin with a group of kids on the road. They will be camping in the woods, but immediately run into trouble when the sheriff (Jay E. Salsberg) pulls them over. Salsberg’s portrayal of the sheriff was rather good and amusing at times, especially when he harasses the kids because they are from more of a “big city” sort of world.
The campers set up, but there is a force that lives in the woods, a group of killers led by a deranged madman with his two female followers that find joy in spilling blood. Unfortunately, the leader of this group is really unbelievable and that is where this movie lives and dies. The portrayal was over the top and contrived, but I continued to watch. That is a good sign.
There is a couple, Harold (James S. Cacciatore) and his much younger wife (Rochelle Angelina). The wife is raped as the Harold watches and although I wanted to feel bad, I couldn’t. I’m not in favor of May-December romances. I did enjoy Cacciatore’s performance.
There is a lot of bloodshed but there doesn’t seem to be a motive behind the murders, and the women seem to be bad impressions of Sheri Moon Zombie’s “Baby” in HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, making the characters seem very empty. That is the biggest problem with the group of killers. There seemed to be no substance behind them…and, as I said, the movie lives and dies with this group, and the group is very weak.
What I did really enjoy about the movie was the ambition behind the product. I get so many films on this level that are all gore and/or excessive nudity with no attempt to tell a story. A story is being told here and there is a lot of promise with Mad Angel Films. I will say that the thing that drove me the most crazy was the grain effect that was put on the digital film in the editing room. It was an attempt to make it look like a 1970’s drive in flick, but it was so unbelievable and it was a pattern that was easily detectable if you followed it….just the same thing over and over again and I found myself watching the pattern at times.
THREE DAYS IN THE WOODS is a great effort, shot rather well for a micro budget film, and better than most films on this level, but the unbelievable killers and irritating grain effect take away from what could have been a very good low budget flick. I look forward to the future productions of Mad Angel Films.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5/10
