Timber Falls was the 3rd movie I chose to watch this week and I was not expecting to see what I saw. The tag line for this dvd only release says "Prey for the victims". This was one that I never saw before but after searching for good scary movies awhile back this one seemed to be on almost every list so I decided to put it on this week's list and see it for the first time. Below is my detailed review.
This film is not heavy on big name actors in fact they don't have any at all. The biggest named one is Nick Searcy who plays Clyde in this film and he is actually on one of my favorite shows on network tv right now, Justified. He plays Chief Deputy Art Mullen on Justified so he was very familiar to me plus he has a distinctive southern drawl to his voice. Also in this film is Brianna Brown who plays the main female character in this film named Sheryl. She too looked familiar to me and she had small parts in the 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up but I believe I recognized her more from her stints on CSI Miami and Las Vegas. There really weren't any other notable actors I recognized in this film but it didn't really matter. The ones they had did a great job. I do however believe that had this film been cast with a more veteran and Hollywood cast it could have done pretty well in theaters across the US but I guess that is besides the point now.
Timber Falls is a movie about a young couple from Virginia who decides to go hiking for a couple of days in the mountains of West Virginia. Ok so right there that's two many "Virginia's" for me and obviously anytime West Virginia and the word mountain is mentioned in the same sentence trouble is sure to follow. I am a big fan of horror films that take place in the outdoors especially secluded mountains and forest areas. Add some cannibalistic inbred mutants or crazy hick country fellows or put them together and you have a promising storyline. This film had one of those (country hicks) and kind of one of the other, Deacon. In the beginning of the film the scenery including lush green mountains, hiking trails, and gorgeous waterfalls were on full display to give the effect of nature's peaceful presence. Oh how deceiving it can be.
The couple is prepared as best as they could be and get maps and information from the ranger and the guy even takes a loaded gun with him but like all doomed horror film characters things don't always go as planned. There are some pretty creepy scenes in this film and the mountain folk or locals are odd from the get go. There is a typical city folk meet the local hicks scene that is very unsettling because again like Ive said before I put myself in the position and wonder how I would handle it because the scene in this film looks realistic enough that it could be something that could easily happen in real life. The actors who played the hicks were convincing and were probably country boys in real life as it is.
Searcy's role as Clyde and his wife Ida played by Beth Broderick were pretty convincing in their roles too. Very creepy but not quite as creepy as Ida's brother Deacon who had facial deformities. I cant help but mention this but every time I say Deacon I think King of Queens. Back to the film. I felt this could have done without some of the sex scenes especially the one in the tent but that's your typical horror movie having to show some boobage as I like to call it at some point. There was one in particular scene in this film that really bothered me and I say that in the fact that it made me kinda squirm a bit, in a good way of course. It is when Mike falls in the woods on a piece of wood and it is lodged into his forearm. Now it could just possibly be the fact that I hate the thought of any knife, needles, etc. being anywhere around my forearm due to my unfavorable view of getting blood tests but none the less this scene probably more than any other was disturbing to me and hard to watch.
Speaking of kill/death scenes there were several and the special effects were pretty good for a dvd movie only. There was a lot more blood and gore than I expected going into this movie and even more so on due to torture scenes. Its always interesting to me to see what kind of torture scenes filmmakers come up with. As crazy as it may sound the whipping scene with alcohol being poured onto the wound afterward was probably the most difficult to watch and that would probably have been one of the more basic torture tactics used in this film, odd isn't it? This film also had a faith based message behind it however the crazy nutjobs who were supposed to be the faithful ones were quite the opposite. Still it was weird to see candles and crosses and hear biblical verses throughout and even more disturbing was that a cross was used to kill one individual on at least one occasion.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie more more so that I originally expected. You never know what your going to get when you watch horror films because 80% of them are straight to dvd flicks and a good majority of those are garbage. Every now and then you find one that was worthwhile and this one easily fit into that category. I was very pleased with this one and even though the ending was corny as hell it did leave it open for a sequel yet one will never reach the light of day. I would have to give this one a strong B!
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