Timber Falls

I watched this film aware of the critical kicking it had received at the hands of the UK Press. It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it might be .It is Director Tony Giglio's mainstream debut, and you can see the films he enjoyed watching at Film School. The "Hills Have Eyes". "Deliverance", "Misery" "Friday The 13th" all have thematic or visual references .Those who have enjoyed those films will not be disappointed by this .However, therein lies the rub, in terms of originality it is 0/10, as an homage my 6/10 stands. Aficianados will enjoy the horror staples. Brianna Brown, as toned, wavy haired blonde victim Sheryl is perfect. She screams and moans a lot, and gives us a very enjoyable white lacy underwear moment before some embarrassingly soft * shots. Heroic boyfriend Mike, played by Josh Randall, is able to take beatings, whippings, brandings, Bear trap entrapment and various other indignities whilst still coming out at the other end as manfully as a hero should. Interestingly although this film has been caught up in the "torture *" debate, it is Josh who is shown bare chested and writhing much more provocatively than his female heroine. The cinematography is strong, and the mountain setting in West Virginia beautiful. Although essentially a "painting by numbers" horror plot, the story is lifted by the intelligent performance of Beth Broderick as Ida, the religious fanatic unable to carry a baby full term. One of the problems of the horror genre is that it is impossible to churn out stories each more gory, more horrifying or more titillating than what has gone before. This neither attempts , nor achieves, any of those objectives. That should not disqualify the likes of "Timber Falls" though for a picture soundly made, and well executed.

source: Timber Falls

. . . yet another backwoods, genetically played-out bunch of rapists and murderers. I'd actually had a decent run lately of NOT saying, "Well, there's another 97 minutes of my life I'll never get back"--and, hey, I watch reality TV, people. Where to start? Well, how about at the start, when we know immediately that the gun and phone will both be needed. Could it be any heavier-handed? Well, sure it could. Like naming one of the trails the Donner Trail. Somewhat less so is the reference to Willow Creek Trail (Willow Creek being one of the U.S.'s most influential evangelical megachurches), but combine that with the stranger lady's remarks about wedding rings and things being equal in the eyes of the Lord, and the couple's immediate confession (why, to this total stranger?) that they aren't married, and you have a good idea where this is going. Very shortly, the film becomes, in my mind, unforgivable. It's bad enough that our couple decides a tentless, broad-daylight rut in the woods is a good way to get some rest on the hike, but that Our Hero not only doesn't shoot any or all of the three rubes but obeys his girlfriend's unfathomable insistence that he rid his gun of all the bullets is beyond the pale. I mean, heck, I'm a pacifist, antivivisectionist vegetarian with Mennonite and Jainist tendencies, and I'm pretty sure I'd have shot the weirdos in the kneecaps and got outta Dodge. And then Cheryl--she who originally seemed to have some brights because she insisted on taking the phone--not only feels frisky that night, after the twisted events of the day, but decides to take a solitary * dip in the lake at dawn? Sh-yeah, right. That's exactly what you'd do if some menacing creep with a gun had been sniffing the crotch of your jeans, I'll bet. Like something else I've heard tell of, this just kept rolling downhill. The cinematic ripoffs proliferated (even ripping off Dusk Till Dawn via Deacon's fantasy), and there wasn't a single shock or chill, although there was plenty of the disgusting. The one thing I will credit it for plotwise is that although it included torture--and I am fed up to here with torture in the genre--there was actually a motive behind it that the bad guys could allow themselves to believe in. (Not that that carries a whole lot of weight for me. The Saw crap tries the same thing, and should utterly fail in the mind of any halfway sane person.) Because of this, the bizarre wedding scene, and the usually reasonable production values, I give it a 2 instead of a 1, although I am sorely tempted to deduct both points on the basis of the last second of the film. One last thing--I'm not only tired of stupid stupid stupid characters and disgusting stuff passing as horror, I'm a little cheesed at religious people so often being depicted as deranged. I could not help, watching this schlock, remembering when my Jewish ex-boyfriend and I went primitive camping in the UP of Michigan some 35 years ago. This was in an era when a LOT of people really did revile you for living together before marriage, and when being a non-Christian American seemed rather rare. We met a born-again Christian and his Catholic wife, who not only did not shame us for our religious views and marital status (which were divulged naturally in the course of conversation) but put up a tarp for us in a rainstorm and then shared their dry firewood and fresh fish with us, sitting up late into the night, talking, drinking coffee, and being kind. I never saw them again--although we did correspond a little that year--but I have never forgotten them and their kindness and acceptance. I wish I'd spent 97 minutes last night trying to find out what had become of them instead.

I just bought this movie and I loved it. It sort of can be compared with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only this one isn't a total gore-fest and is more of a psychological thriller. A young couple Josh Randall(Scrubs and Pushing Daisies) and Brianna Brown(After Dark Horrorfest 2009 upcoming flick The Lost Tribe) decide to take a weekend off and go camping. They wind up crossing paths with a couple of red neck town drunks, only to find out that they are being stalked by a deformed maniac. They end up being held captive by a religious fanatic and his wife, who cant conceive and want the young couple to get pregnant and give them their baby. The couple end up turning the tables in a bloody fight for survival. This flick has some sweet kill shots, so I definitely recommend this to anyone.

I recently became a fan and member of Netflix. If nothing else this has given me the joy of a host of B-Movie horror/slasher flicks for me to watch without spending a fortune. I'm a slasher flick fiend and I love a good or even bad horror flick. Because I watch so many of them I do tend to stumble onto a horror gem. They can be fun, gory, slapstick, even silly sometimes and formulaic but when they have great characters, an interesting story and some true suspense they catch my interest. Timber Falls takes a typical story of the whole weird in-bred family attacking innocent hikers and gives it a really wicked twist and some unique characters. They definitely aren't your usual Texas Chainsaw variety psychos. In several ways though Timber Falls keeps the recipe for slasher flicks the same and there is nothing wrong with that either. The ending for the film is so incredibly typical of many slasher flicks from Friday The 13th, to I Know What You Did Last Summer, and yet for me it was the perfect ending. When the last scene is done and the credits are rolling I'm smiling because it was something I truly enjoyed and fulfilled my love for the horror genre. TV Character actor Josh Randall is the macho hero of the story. He doesn't get a lot of development to his character and yet its enough to firmly substantiate him as the hero. He definitely takes a licking and keeps on kicking throughout the film. In fact he is nothing short of tortured, burnt, stabbed etc and still comes back fighting to save the woman he loves. Lovely and down to earth Brianna Brown plays a terrific scream queen. Her and Randall have great chemistry together which is really important for this film and definitely ups the ante on separating it from other horror flicks. Nick Searcy is terrific as one half of the maniac couple. He doesn't get the same development or scenes as his counterpart but as the deeply religious and determined patriarch he gives a great performance. His scenes with Randall are outstanding. The real scene stealer of the entire film in my opinion is Beth Broderick, yes Aunt Zelda from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. She is absolutely outstanding as the demented woman who kidnaps and tortures and is basically the main killer of the film. She is absolutely perfect. Sascha Rosemann fills the necessary void in the film as the brawny and physically damaged killer Deacon. He basically is carbon copied from Leatherface but he still does a decent job although takes a back seat to the other killers which is a good. Director Tony Giglio is fairly new to directing but has already had some decent experience with a film featuring Jason Statham, and having worked on a lot of great films in the past. I think he has a passion for horror and he knows how to spin a story even using a recipe that is perhaps in some peoples' opinions overused. I think as long as you can keep the story original and fresh and keep us entertained it doesn't matter how much of the familiar recipes you use. In fact when it comes to slasher flicks in my opinion if it ain't broke don't fix it and this one uses a lot of the same material from other classic slasher flicks but some solid performances and a really good twist in the story makes this one a must see for horror fans like me. A really good thrill ride that won't disappoint. 8.5/10

I am a pretty picky Horror movie fan and I gotta say, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. Original enough of a storyline (for this type of West Virgia "backwoods" style movie) Twists, turns, and just enough gore to appease the gore hound in me. If you like hills have eyes, river runs red, wrong turn or any like style movie, you are sure to enjoy this one. The cast and characters are believable enough to make this movie work. I saw some pretty nasty reviews about this movie and I don't know why. It wasn't like Staunton Hill where you had to wait for a week and a half for something to happen. I would rate it a 8.5/10

All the major clichés of the genre seem to get wound up in this movie. A young couple go camping in the mountains of West Virginia and end up in the clutches of a murderous local backwoods (and somewhat backwards) family. How original can this be? Well, the answer is not very. About the only part of the standard cliché that was left out was cannibalism! It's not that the movie was a waste. It actually had quite an eye- catching opening, and the performances were surprisingly good (a judgment which may admittedly be more a factor of my own low expectations than anything.) For a while there's also a pretty fair level of suspense, and good use of the setting. But the good is outweighed by more problematic aspects to the story. My first question revolved around why this couple even got into this situation. They were warned to stay off all but two trails. Then, when they first ran into trouble on the trail they chose (not one of the two,) why continue on. After an encounter with that first group of backwoods thugs, I think I'd have gotten out of there as fast as I could. The movie ends up going for one of the unfortunate choice to make the backwoods killer family a bunch of religious wackos, for no truly obvious reason that I could see, but crosses certainly abound in this. The movie gets increasing and graphically gory as it moves along, and some of the gore near the end comes across as silly rather than believable. It all culminated in an admittedly unexpected but also completely inexplicable (and somewhat nonsensical) very last shot before the credits begin to roll. Granted that there are some good things involved with this, but they can't save an unoriginal, cliché-ridden piece of work.

For the life of me I cannot understand why Michael (Josh Randall - "Ed") would bother going after Sheryl (Brianna Brown). All she did the first 30 minutes of this movie was whine and complain. There is nothing new or original here. It's the same story about inbred mountain folk and their bizarre rituals - this time with a really interesting weapon. You have the usual torture, and a nice decapitation, but it never really gets to the level we are used to. The ending just doesn't make sense, either. Go watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre again instead.

Timber Falls is the typical horror movie about teens having big troubles in the woods. Without introducing something we've never seen before, Timber Falls manages to be entertaining for the most part. Mike and Sheryl are young, traveling couple whose destination is a lake in the woods. While enjoying the beauty of nature, the two meet inhospitable hunters who act weird only to steal $50 from the couple. After this bizarre event is forgotten, Mike and Sheryl spend the night in a tent. The problem is that they are not alone. Somebody spies on them. When Mike wakes up at the next morning, there is no Sheryl. Having realized something is terribly wrong, Mike goes after the hunters, blaming them for his girlfriend's disappearance. They are not the kidnappers though. Timber Falls is not a waste of time although this storyline is really one of the biggest clichés around. Location - woods, characters - dumb, killers - disfigured or sheriffs. However, the movies has its moments for sure. The first 20 minutes are an almost perfect build-up for any kind of story. There is this beautiful location which helps for the increasing tension although I didn't feel tense. But it's there and it's obvious what purposes it serves. The second part is completely different with the characters being tortured underground. Maybe I didn't fall for that, but still, the first act is quite impressive for something that has been made for over three decades. Director Tony Giglio, although not experienced enough, has shot some good material. The opening sequence for example. We are shown a scared, tortured girl whose friends are supposedly killed, but we never get to see what happens to her. The scene's fast pace leaves the grotesque for the imagination. A very smart move by the creators although it does resemble Wrong Turn a bit. Now, I do have some remarks concerning the acting. OK, I can live with Josh Randall's weird, never ending screams. I can even bare Brianna Brown's horrible performance in the second act, but I simply hated the villains. From what I understand, Beth Broderick, as the crazy old lady, is considered the highlight of the film. However, I have a completely different opinion about her heroine - Ida. I mean, this woman wasn't believable at all. She is one of the first supporting characters introduced and you could clearly tell she's not what it seems. Maybe, just maybe, that was intentional, but still, it's a terrible moment for the plot development, because you know the main characters will have an unpleasant, second encounter with that lady. As for Nick Searcy, who plays Ida's husband - well, I didn't care about him. He was impersonal and tedious. Besides, his overacting was irritating. Good that there is this German guy who plays a disfigured retard who does the dirty work for the old couple. He's a nice addition to the otherwise boring villains. Overally, Timber Falls is worth a look. It's flawed, but the final result is rather satisfying. Check it out.

I watched this film last week at the closing night of SCREAMFEST in LA. I have been looking forward to it for a while. The online reviews have been split, some love it, a few did not. I was curious. This is a very entertaining film. It doesn't break too much new ground as far as setup. You got your "teaser" scene with a baddie doing bad things, then you intro the "heroes" going camping, and then the sh*t hits the fan. It's here where the film is not like others. It hits the same beats, but the story was unique and creepy and weird. DELIVERANCE, Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and MISERY were 3 films it's similar to. Most horror films, of late, spend the 1st 30 minutes introducing the main characters and their petty problems, but then once the "evil" element kicks in, all those problems and character traits go away. TIMBER FALLS introduced things in the beginning that paid off in the end. The two leads (Josh Randall and Brianna Brown) were great. Josh in particular. But the best actors and most interesting characters are IDA and CLYDE. The warped couple. The tag-line says "deranged locals and a gruesome plot." Well, it's not like HOSTEL or CAPTIVITY or HILLS HAVE EYES. This was an actual real plot. The gruesome scenes made sense. Not just for shock value. There was a real story here and cheap gross out tactics were not needed. It's also about 1/2 way thru the film when the dark humor comes in. And it pays off great. The film isn't pretentious and does not take itself too seriously. I think a couple of the negative reviews probably missed out on this. There are still great jumps and scare moments, but the film definitely provides a lot of tension breaker moments. The crowd went wild and reacted great at all of these. I don't think watching this movie at home on DVD will have the same impact as watching it in the theaters with an audience. The cast and director were at the screening. They announced the film is coming out in theaters in December in select cities. This is not THE EXORCIST. It's not so super scary all the way through and it seemed to have a "this might be a hit so we need to tack on an ending that could leave film open to sequel" ending. But it has a great story, great acting. Good scare moments. Some gross stuff and some real, intentionally funny moments. When you see it, remember this line, "Things are starting to get out of hand here, y'all." It brought the house down. Very well done.