She Came From the Woods

Writers: Erik Bloomquist and Carson Bloomquist

Director: Erik Bloomquist

In cinematic terms, the 1980s were not the best time for a young person to be a counsellor at an isolated summer camp. If you as a movie character found yourself in that situation, it would be a very good bet that you would end up horribly murdered by the final reel. Whether its Jason Vorhees (or his mother) stalking sexy teens at Camp Crystal Lake, or one of the many subsequent Friday the 13^th wannabes, the setting has become a bit of a cliché. She Came From the Woods is a self-proclaimed “ode to 1980s horror” and while it is set in 1987 at a camp on the last day of the season, it at least attempts to be somewhat original by swapping the usual machete-wielding masked maniac for a ghostly resurrected killer nurse.

Camp Briarbrook is wrapping up its season for another year. The end of year show is presented, the camp founder Gilbert (William Sadler) makes his usual unifying speech, and the young councillors are sending the kids on their way, packing away the equipment and preparing to throw a party to celebrate the end of the summer. It’s at this party that Gilbert’s grandson Peter (Spencer List) unwisely leads the other councillors in a blood ritual that results in the resurrection of the evil spirit of Agatha, a murderous nurse from the camp’s past.

As an “ode to 1980s horror” there are certain expectations. The victims in those films are regularly set up as (sort of) deserving of their grisly fates by indulging in drugs and/or premarital sex. This movie avoids all of that, and with the exception of one obtuse reference to alcohol consumption, these teens are all pretty well behaved, which seems at odds with the film’s apparent intentions. This would be fine if this was presented as 80s horror as seen through modern sensibilities, but it isn’t. That’s not to say that the characters are complete angels: instead of indulging in the usual sinful vices, several of the characters (including our nominal lead character) are written and played as completely unlikeable douchebags. Unfortunately with a couple of exceptions, the remaining characters are bland and thinly sketched, making what happens to any of them almost impossible to care about.

Another problem is the ill-defined motivation and powers of the antagonist Agatha. She seems able to arbitrarily possess people to become murderous, and although this could have generated an interesting paranoid The Thing / Invasion of the Body Snatchers concept, it isn’t used again, apart from a school bus of young children turning into violent kind-of zombies – another potentially strong idea that is also undercooked. This basically leaves Agatha herself, a ghost/zombie wandering around the woods (she can apparently fly, but only does so once) in a dirty nurse’s uniform, Halloween make-up and teeth that look like they’ve been fashioned out of orange peel. Jason Vorhees has nothing to worry about.

The film offers no atmosphere (these are the brightest lit woods ever), scares are none existent, the kills unimaginative and mostly off-screen, and with a few notable exceptions, the acting ranges from poor to really bad. As the most famous person in the cast, William Sadler (probably best known as Death in the Bill and Ted movies) manages to deliver a good performance and escapes with his dignity. Stranger Things’ Cara Buono also does as well as can be expected, despite sporting a hilariously large bandage on her ear for most of the film. Gotham’s Poison Ivy Clare Foley looks like she would rather be anywhere other than in this film, and as the seeming lead character Spencer List proves that he doesn’t have enough charm to make his abhorrent idiot character likable. Bloomquist’s direction and writing are acceptable for a first timer; however this is shockingly far from his debut film.

She Came From the Woods has some interesting ideas, but fails to develop any of them. However its biggest issue is in it its tone. Playing it straight for the first act means that some apparent attempts at levity and humour later in the script are incongruous and fall completely flat. This is frustrating, as the plot is nothing but ridiculous and would have been better served with an overall goofier tone. Ironically for a film set at a summer camp, this just isn’t camp enough.

Blue Finch Film Releasing presentsSheCameFrom TheWoods on digital 26 June.