Hot Picks
|
|
|
W Lesie Dzis Nie Zasnie Nikt
Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight
Poland 2020
produced by Jan Kwiecinski, Malgorzata Fogel-Gabrys (executive), Mirella Zaradkiewicz (creative) for Akson Studio, Plan Zet
directed by Bartosz M. Kowalski
starring Julia Wieniawa-Narkiewicz, Michal Lupa, Wiktoria Gasiewska, Stanislaw Cywka, Sebastian Dela, Gabriela Muskala, Michal Zbroja, Miroslaw Zbrojewicz, Piotr Cyrwus, Olaf Lubaszenko, Wojciech Mecwaldowski, Bartlomiej Kotschedoff, Bartlomiej Firlet, Malgorzata Szczerbowska, Izabela Dabrowska, Jakub Góralczuk, Filip Góralczuk, Agnieszka Czekanska, Jaroslaw Golec, Julia Kostow, Robert Wabich, Sebastian Stankiewicz
written by Bartosz M. Kowalski, Jan Kwiecinski, Mirella Zaradkiewicz, music by Jimek (= Radzimir Debski), special makeup effects by Marcin Kedzierzawski, Wanda Tatucha-Kedzierzawska
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
A rather random group of youngsters - tough but troubled Zosia (Julia
Wieniawa-Narkiewicz), nerdy Julek (Michal Lupa), hottie Aniela (Wiktoria
Gasiewska), macho Daniel (Sebastian Dela) and closet gay Bartek (Stanislaw
Cywka) - are on an involuntary camping trip with their guide Iza (Gabriela
Muskala) as part of a program to ween them off their electronic devices.
Now of course, two of them, Aniela and Daniel, have sex by the nearby
lake, and the next morning, Daniel is missing. The group decides to split
up despite Julek's warnings not to (the genre-aware character being a
staple of slashers since at least Scream) with Bartek and Aniela
waiting by the campfire while Iza, Zosia and Julek spread out looking for
him. They soon happen upon a cabin and find Daniel's dead body in the
basement - when the cabin's tenant, a sort of overweight mutant (Michel
Zbroja), arrives on the scene, gets his hands on Iza and tears her head
off. Zosia and Julek just run until they're sure they've shaken the
mutant. But of course, now they're lost in the woods, and just wandering
aimlessly they happen upon an old man who gives them the mutant's back
story: Once upon a time, there were young twins (Jakub and Filip
Góralczuk) who just happened upon an alien egg - which transformed them
into cannibalistic mutants who have apparently only today started roaming
the woods. Meanwhile, back at the camp, Aniela and Bartek have a good
conversation where they bare their souls to one another - until Aniela is
suddenly speared to death. Bartek runs and comes upon a church - where the
priest (Piotr Cyrwus) is quick to tie him up to abuse him, but instead is
killed by the mutant. Zosia figures the only way to get out of this is
to somehow get her hands on the cellphone dead Daniel has smuggled into
the camp, but that means returning to the mutants' cabin and outsmarting
them to be able to search Daniel's corpse for the phone - something that's
much easier said than done ... Basically, this film is slasher
101, it really has little to break the tried-and-true formula and doesn't
even show the hint of an intention to, and even the few variations woven
into the plot never detract too far from beaten paths, so one can
basically guess not only who will survive but also the succession our
heroes will die in. And unfortunately nothing is made out of the fact that
they have to deal with not one but two killers. On the plus side, the film
is very beautifully filmed and makes the most of its impressive backdrops,
and the score is actually pretty awesome, and much more poignant than
anything happening on screen. But that said, the film is also a bit
over-long, and while some effort is put into giving our motley crew of
protaginists actual backstories, many of them seem generic and could have
done without, especially that the film at over 100 minutes, runs a bit
stale the longer it goes. Now I'm not saying this is a trainwreck, but
even within the forgiving slasher realm, it has room for improvement.
|
|
|