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Driving through a forest, a couple (Julian Horton, Saethia Dresch) stop dead in their tracks when a blood covered girl, Sara (Caylin Sams) stumbles out of the woods right in front of their car, holding  a spear in one hand, a severed head in the other. What has happened was she was on a camping trip with her dodgeball team when they were attacked by a monster that killed all her friends but ionecplicably left her alive. Of course, nobody believes her monster story, however, the head she had been carrying is that of an as-of-yet undiscovered humanoid species. Of course, this story of hers coupled with the discovery of a new species is soon enough to make the news, turning her into a bit of a celebrity, to the point where even a film is made out of her ordeal - for which she doesn't only get a small fortune, she also for a while dates the actress playing her, Tara (Lorelei Linklater). But none of that makes Sara really happy, as she's suffering from survivor's guilt and feels a certain emptiness in her heart, so much so that those closest to her, her sister (Rachel Tracy) and a befriended cop (Rachel Petsiavas) start to worry about her. What's especially troubling is that Sara feels pulled back to the very piece of forest she's lost all her friends in ...

Monster movies are a dime a dozen, and arguably it's next to impossible to come up with a new approach to such a pretty much ancient genre - and yet writer/director David Axe tries and succeeds, as it takes the genre to the meta-level (which includes self-parody) and pretty much puts its monsters center stage without showing them for the lontest time, dealing with issues surrounding their discovery instead. Now this could still spell recipe for a disaster, but at the same time David Axe is director who's genre-savvy enough to make it work, to not only serve the meta-level but also the more visceral espectatiions of his audience. And the outcome then is just a real joy to watch, a thinking man's monster movie that still delivers the goods.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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