The Woods

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Plotline: A young girl is shipped off to boarding school in the middle of the woods somewhere. She starts to experience supernatural events and see things in the woods. When several students go missing, and she begins to receive secret warnings from others that she might be next, she begins to look for answers.

Scariness factor: It has a couple jump-in-your-seat moments, but not enough.

Gross-Out Factor: Pretty good in this department--definitely watchable for the squeamish.

Complaints: I didn't care! I was like, huh, they might be witches or something witchly or witchery-related? Yeah, don't care. I guess that was my biggest complaint--what was taking place at the school wasn't interesting enough to keep me wanting more. And it wasn't spooky or scary enough to carry it otherwise.

High Points: Bruce Campbell's in it (presumably a nod to the tree-fetishism that cropped up in Evil Dead and which appears again here, though not quite so "erotically") playing a pussy-whipped dad, and what can I say--I heart the man and his ability to pull off lines like "Gimme some sugar, baby" with that perfect amount of hyper-masculinized cappiness. Alas, he is not in it for long enough to make it worth checking out just to see him. Also in it is Patricia Clarkson who is actually one of my favorite actresses at the moment (she's *awesome* at anything she's in, and she's foxy to boot), but even SHE couldn't transfuse the needed energy into this movie, sadly.



Overall: If you get a woody from witch-flicks, check it out. If not, probably not worth your while.

Grade: C-