Five old friends decide to get together for a weekend’s vacation in the woods, only things don’t go as planned. We review Silver Woods from director Clay Moffatt.
If horror movies have taught us anything, it’s not a wise idea to spend a vacation staying in a cabin in the middle of the woods; just see The Evil Dead, Cabin in the Woods and Cabin Fever (amongst many more). In Silver Woods, five old friends who have seemed to have drifted apart over recent years decide to take a weekend jaunt to one such cabin in the woods.
Upon arriving, the group of friends decide to take a hike to Silver Woods – an area not too far from where they are staying. Before they get there though, they are met by a local park ranger who warns them off, saying that Silver Woods is dangerous and they should not go in there. Of course, a warning like that to young people comes off more like a challenge and two members of the group Charles (Michael Lopez) and Bryan (Michael Espinoza) decide to go and investigate on their own, once night has arrived.
Something is obviously wrong, as the two return back to the cabin acting strangely, leaving good guy Edward (Jonathon Booker) to try and figure out just what the hell is happening.
So, to start off, Silver Woods does suffer with a few problems. The story is a little cliché, having seen similar premises countless times. Though we can forgive director and writer Clay Moffatt for deciding to go with a ‘cabin in the woods’ setting because, hell it’s pretty damn scary knowing you are in the middle of nowhere with God-knows-what out there in the abyss of trees and darkness. The other issues Silver Woods has is with production quality. The cinematography is mish-mashed with some great shots mixed with ones that simply do not work; the 180 degree rule is just thrown out of the window in some instances.
I have to admit, even though Silver Woods does get some things wrong, I really did enjoy the movie. The characters and actors were all likeable, with Jonathon Booker making a good leading man. He is built like a WWE wrestler but has the personality of everyone’s best friend. There are a few jump scare moments in the film and Moffatt does handle them well, especially when it comes to adding in sound effects and the sudden increase of volume to the score. Also, I’d like to add that it seemed like the cast had a lot of fun shooting this film, even on a shoestring budget.
Coming in just over an hour in run time, Moffatt and his cast and crew should be applauded for their efforts. Making what is essentially a feature film with little in terms of budget, and just the love of film-making is what the film industry desperately needs. Let’s hope that they increasingly improve in all aspects of movie making and their next effort is a total winner. I have faith.
Leave a Reply