Phantom of the Woods (2016)
Matt Boiselle
|
Starring Delaney Hathaway, J.R.S. Storch, Richard Hackel
Directed by Michael Storch
As a result of reviewing endless amounts of movies over the course of a calendar year, after a while you begin to sort them into nicely stacked piles. “Nicely done,” “well-crafted,” “just okay,” and “stinks on ice” are just a few of the sub-categories that I’ve personally filed some celluloid creations into lately, and when I was presented the chance of checking out Michael Storch’s atmospheric creeper Phantom of the Woods, I’d already begun to prep a specific category in which this one would land. Wondering where? Come inside and take a peek.
Following two emotionally disorganized teens, Jake and Lana (Hathaway and Storch), the movie delves into the spooky figures in the forest formula, which I think we all can attest has been beaten to death, with and without positive results. In this presentation, however, Storch uses the Shadow People myth to adequate illustration and manages to provide some genuinely eerie scenarios throughout the film.
It turns out that only Lana can see these shaded figures through the lens of her camera, and when things begin to spiral out of control, Lana catches one of the dark entities looming over the crime scene where a police officer was murdered. Afterwards, a terrifying series of events threatens to overtake the small town, with only the two teens possessing the know-how (if you will) to get to the bottom of this unexplained phenomena.
Now with that being said, here are just a few positives and negatives that unfortunately got this film tossed into the “so-so” pile: The pacing was severely off, with more than a few potentially freaky moments dumped on by lackluster dialogue. Also, going to the well one too many times with these shadow people got to be a bit tedious over the course of the movie’s runtime – once you’ve seen them glide across the screen, the luster has been tarnished. Saving graces include a nice body count (although some can’t be witnessed) and some really beautiful cinematography – thumbs up on the camera placement and direction, Mr. Storch.
In closing, I’m not going to tell all of you to run out and make this a must-watch, simply due to the fact that it’s been done before. That’s not a shot to the director’s vision or execution; it’s just tantamount to the assembly line cranking out scary forest movies long before he get his shot. A one-timer if nothing else.
-
Film
Categorized:Reviews
