Devereux Milburn’s macabre, sublimely unsettling film is about a young couple on a camping trip- Sam, an aspiring actor (Sawyer Spielberg) and Rylie (Malin Barr), investigating, for her thesis, a blight on wheat that caused mutations and the death of cattle in that section of the country.
They are awakened in the dead of night by a farmer who chases them off his land, and when they can’t start their car they knock on the door of a rural farmhouse for help.
A strange, elderly woman answers the door- Karen (Barbara Kingsley– a real standout), who cheerily invites them in, serving them supper in a grungy kitchen along with a bandaged, weird son staring blankly at a TV blaring Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons.
The unfortunate couple end up staying the night in the basement and begin to experience disturbing auditory hallucinations (way too many bumps in the night).
Thanks to quirky cinematography by Dan Kennedy and creepy sound design and score by John Mehrmann, the film unfolds like a very Grimm fairy tale. It’s indeed a slow burn, but considering the set-up seems groaningly familiar, there’s a chilling originality to the way everything spirals nightmarishly out of control.
And remember, if you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise.
(Dark Star Pictures & Bloody Disgusting releases this on VOD, Digital HD and DVD on April 13)