The prolific pan-European production house Studio Canal brings us Deep In the Woods, a tepid horror film with as contrived a premise as one can conjure. Five 18 to 20-somethings are hired by an eccentric to perform a play at his isolated mansion for his creepy son’s birthday. The movie’s original French title is Promenons-nous dans les bois (roughly translated, “a stroll in the woods”), but even that title is misleading, as most of the action takes place in the house — one of those massive nineteenth-century mansions that litter Europe’s countryside. A spooky groundskeeper with a penchant for trapping and skinning small animals rounds out the household.

Since the young adults are an acting troupe, the movie contains a play-within-a-play: a weird version of Little Red Riding Hood, with two girls, two woodcutters and one ugly wolf costume that features in more than just the play. The acting troupe took the job because they needed the money — and with performances like theirs, it’s no wonder. The troupe’s production also has a strong sexual undertone, which is odd considering that its main audience is a ten-year-old boy. Of course, Nicolas is no ordinary ten-year-old. Having – as a toddler – witnessed the murder of his mother, he does not speak and has a permanent look of wide-eyed horror on his face. The play isn’t the only repository of sexual energy; among the five young adults there are two couples — one straight couple and one lesbian couple. The viewer soon realizes someone or something is watching and photographing their sexual exploits. The night after the performance, most of them go out into the woods for some partner swapping, and soon after that, the killing starts.

The technical side of Deep In the Woods isn’t too bad. It’s clearly a B-movie, but the lighting, sets and camera-work create a stylish base and are good enough that they don’t distract the viewer. Unfortunately, the viewer could use some distractions because the plot is thin and predictable, the special effects virtually non-existent and the performances are campy. Director Lionel Delplanque could have gone for either stylish or campy, but with aspects of both, the movie ends up a mess – the actors don’t know whether they should pout like models or emote like soap stars, resulting in some unintentionally funny scenes. For a horror film, this film is also lacking in horror. The most disgusting scene is the groundskeeper skinning a squirrel; the actual “slasher” sequences are hollow and unbelievable. The identity of the killer is also poorly disguised, though the screenwriter does try to lead the viewer down some side trails, it is ultimately the well-beaten path that leads to the killer’s end. Oh, and the killer’s confession is perhaps the lamest I have ever seen.

Deep In the Woods could have been a fun B-grade alternative to the popular Scream-style of ‘horror’ or other teen horror flicks, but instead falls prey to its own inner monsters of mediocrity.

Cheryl DeWolfe

DVD version:

Give credit to Artisan for putting a little bit of effort into this low profile DVD release. The movie is provided in both its original widescreen (2.35:1 aspect ratio) and full-screen versions, with Dolby 5.1 surround sound in both the original French and a dubbed English soundtrack. Two versions of English language subtitles are available – one for the English soundtrack and one for the French. A full-length audio commentary is provided by filmmaker and horror movie aficionado Brian Yuzna, who does a decent job of giving his impressions of the film, while also sharing observations gleaned from the director’s notes. He’s perhaps a bit too generous to the movie and director Lionel Delplanque, but manages to come across as reasonably well informed. The other extras on the disc are limited to the movie trailer, a modest photo gallery, and biographies and filmographies for eight of the movie’s actors and four members of the filmmaking team.

Directed by Lionel Delplanque
Stars Clotilde Courau, Clement Sibony, Vincent Lecoeur, Alexia Stresi, Maud Buquet, Francois Berleand, Denis Lavant, Michel Muller (I), Marie Trintignant, Thibault Truffert, Suzanne MacAleese
Studio/distributor: Artisan