Sunday, April 12, 2015

In the Woods (1999)

Firefighter Alex and his wife are having a difficult time.  Alex drinks to deal with the the emotional toll of deadly fires.  His wife is tired of being married to someone with an alcohol problem who hangs out in the bar drinking with his buddies instead of talking to her about his feelings.

To help cheer Alex up, co-worker Wayne takes him on a hunting trip where they can have peace and quiet, and no alcohol.  They go to privately owned land where no one is allowed, but Wayne says his in-laws family own it, so what the heck.  when they stumble across what appears to a burial site, the reason no one is allowed on the land seems clear. Especially because people have been disappearing and the police believe there is a serial killer on the loose.

Wayne insists on digging up the grave, but Alex wants to tell the police.  Alex proves to have better critical thinking skills because it's always a bad idea ago dig up a grave. Unfortunately he caves and they dig up a weird horned skull, something in the woods bellows, and they are chased off the land by a strange creature.  Contrary to his promise to his wife, Alex and Wayne head to the nearest bar and vow to tell no one about their experience since no one would believe them.

When his wife comes home, Alex is asleep on the couch.  Alex proves to have married a woman with a distinct lack of olfactory receptors since she never knows he's been drinking until she kisses him.  No wonder he's been getting away with drinking for so long.

After his wife moves out, Alex is alarmed to find his garage has become a dumping ground for body parts. It would have been much more interesting if this turned out to be some psycho revenge done by his estranged wife who is trying to frame him for being the serial killer, but alas it turns out to be some convoluted story regarding the monster they previously saw in the woods. Naturally many of the local police and residents think he's the serial killer. But he'd have to be stupid to suddenly start leaving body parts on his property and calling the police to report it when he's gotten away with it for so long.

While the movie is called In the Woods, 90% of the movie takes place in the someone's house or the fire station.  This isn't that good a movie, but it's better than a lot of the crap I've been watching lately.  So take that with a grain of salt.

No comments: