Review: Backwoods

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet

Backwoods
Directed by Thomas Smith
Fighting Owl Films
70 minutes, 2020
www.fightingowlfilms.com

 Most of what I have seen of Thomas Smith’s films, such as The Night Shift (2011), Night of the Krampus (2013) and Demon Squad (2019) – all of which have been reviewed on this blog if you search for it – have been enjoyable, relatively horror fare lite with minimal blood, some good spooks, and a touch of 1940’s film-style banter and humor. Many of them seemed right for television series like “Supernatural” or “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.”

For his new release, this time Smith has delved into darker territory, both zigging and zagging a new course from anything I have seen from him. That’s not to say there isn’t some wit involved, such as the football team being the Owls (yeah, their slogan is the Fighting Owls, of course) named after Smith’s production company, and the playing field is dedicated after Khristian Fulmer, who starred in most of Smith’s films. But I digress, as this one is much more serious…

Isabella Alberti, Michael Anthony Bagozzi

You know your night is going to be bad when you wake up after a post-high school football party in your cheerleader outfit, bound and gagged, as does our protagonist Molly (Isabella Alberti). That’s the opening situation with which we are presented. Through a series of flashbacks we get to learn how she got there, and we see how she end up in the backwoods of Alabama (where this was shot), home of the urban legendary Hangman (Scott Alan Warner), a serial killer who was known to murder the men and “keep” the women. Supposedly he was killed years before by the coppers but, this is a genre film.

The central characters are Molly, her incredible asswipe of a boyfriend/jock Hunter (Matthew McCoy), her younger sister Olive (Angelina Alberti), and the bullied waterboy, Noah (Michael Anthony Bagozzi), who is Molly’s friend. Along for the ride are some of Hunter’s pals (aka the body count).

Jeremy Sande, Matthew McCoy

There are multiple bad guys: Hunter, an older drug dealer (Jeremy Sande) who lusts after Molly, and of course there’s the Hangman. And then… well, like Sweeney Todd, he wouldn’t want us to give it away. Each has their own unconnected motives and singular desires, and all will converge at some point. That’s how genre films unfold.

As for the Hangman, lots of local areas have their own stories that overlap with these kinds of legends, such as when I was growing up in the New York area there was Cropsy that was told around the Cub Scout campfire, a burned killer in the woods waiting to kill campers (that I grew up in Brooklyn close to a street named Cropsy Avenue used to weird me out as a young’n); The Burning (1981) was based on this story. The Hangman doesn’t need a mask, and his disfiguring is not shied away from in the chronology (i.e., when you see him the first time, he’s shown clearly). He has a mutant look that would fit well in the family from The Hills Have Eyes (1977).

Personality wise, the Hangman is actually more “human” than most either masked or deformed killing machines in these types of releases, in that one can almost empathize with him at times, and Warner does an exceptional job expressing emotions through the big rubber mask and hands. Sometimes the viewer can care more about him than some of the victims, though the dread is still there. He makes listening to Christian music a bit ominous (okay, yeah, it is anyway, right?).

Scott Alan Warner: The Hangman

The film can be a bit talky at times, seeming to delay the action, but then again it does help with the character development, so it’s still a win-situation, unless you’re so hyped up and conditioned by modern fare you need quick editing and random slaughter. There are certainly some fun kills here, don’t get me wrong, and they are surely enjoyable, but it takes time. Then again, this would not be considered a “slow burner” either; it’s kind of in the middle, which is a nice place to be situated.

Speaking of the kills, even though the main antagonist is known as the Hangman, we get to see a number of people die a varied of ways, rarely by hanging, ironically. This is actually fine, because the way it is presented gives us a bit more blood and general mayhem. The only thing of which I’m not certain (perhaps I missed it?) is whether this Hangman is the same as the legend, or perhaps a progeny. Either way, it opens up for a franchise, which would be welcomed.

The visuals are beautifully shot by Kris Skoda, who also fills a bunch of other crew shoes. It is well written by husband and wife team of Smith and Erin Lilly (the latter of whom has a decent cameo role as “The Feral Woman,” aka Karen, though I don’t think she’ll be calling the cops on strangers), with lots of twists and unexpected turns, and as I said, which does well to build some character development that is so rare in these kinds of slaughter films.

As a departure from the tone of filmmaking he usually employs, Smith does a really fine job at giving us a mutant slasher, with a fine balance between art and blood, twixt talk and terror. I can honestly say, in the number of films of his I have seen, I have never been disappointed, and that includes this one.

Backwoods Trailer: TBD