This one comes to us from the magical world of Belgium, and according to IMDb it is entirely in Flemish and French. I'm glad I looked that up too, because I ignorantly thought it was in German or Swedish for a fashion. Anyways, this movie came along right when I needed it to. It's been sitting in the queue of movies I had waiting, and after my last couple of disappointing viewings I really didn't know what to expect.Directed by Jonas Govaerts and written by Roel Mondelaers, this movie is a f**king blast. Admittedly, I don't know much about how Scouts works in Belgium, so you'll have to forgive my ignorance on that particular subject, but as far as I can tell, this movie is about two insane Scout leaders, a group of lunatic children, and one of the Scout leader's girlfriend, and also a dog. These kids head off into the woods despite a weird, out of place, werewolf legend, and encounter murderous lunatics in the woods.So, this one is an insane amount of fun. The woods have been hilariously booby trapped by (I think) a man who is not responding well to losing his job, and now lives underground, and his son (maybe?) who wears bark on his face and is frightening. The Scout group enters the territory of this evil duo, and all hell starts to break loose.All hell includes the dog getting beaten in a bag (I put that in here not to spoil, but to warn in advance for anyone sensitive to that kind of thing), a jeep running over a tent full of children, and a pit fight between two children. Seriously, that's all in this movie, and it's awesome. Seriously. F**king. Awesome.There are a couple of dropped plot threads, like a not-addressed photograph that Sam carries around, and a bus, buried under ground full of dead people. With that said though, I completely forgive all of that, because it's really just a blast to watch. There are a few instanced of adults hitting children like grown ups which is a bit weird, and it does go to some dark places throughout.It has some scary moments, and everyone in the movie does a pretty solid job from start to finish. Even the kids are believable, if not a little bit a**holey and the movie pulls very few punches, which I can respect.Overall, I give this a strong recommend if you can get your hands on it. It's fun, bloody, and a great watch. Though, I will warn you again, the dog definitely gets killed in this movie and so if you don't want that, then skip it. No, it's not a real dog, but scenes like that can be really hard to take sometimes. www.barleydoeshorror.com

Welp (Cub) is a Belgian scouting horror, about a troupe of cub scouts who wander into the wrong part of the woods after a encounter with local rednecks runs them off what was supposed to be their campsite. And it's an imaginatively rad little debut from Jonas Govaerts.Our protagonist is Sam; a foster kid who was forced to join the troupe so that he could learn how to cope with his personal mental issues arising from some traumatic (unspoken) past. He seems to be a good kid, but takes the brunt of the bullying from everyone accept his best friend Gries.There's a sort of love triangle going on between the three pack leaders: Baloo, Kris & Jasmine. Both the guys are pretty douchey, but Baloo is definitely the more aggressive and douchier of the two. Even they pick on Sam, despite the fact that Jasmine tries to stick up and watch out for him.The rest of the troupe are relatively inconsequential other than that they collectively bully Sam on a regular basis.There's an urban legend surrounding the woods they have set up in- and even the police and rednecks are wary of wandering into the area. Word is that after the local industry went under, many suicides occurred there...a lot of negative energy surrounds the place.There's also a tale about a man-hunting feral werewolf child named Kai, whom will come after anyone who dare enter his territory.Not only does a feral masked man-killing child exist (though not a werewolf), but there's also a post-industrial serial killer on the loose- and they are prowling the woods together. Having set up all sorts of crazy lures and booby traps.In fact, this film is all about these cleverly designed contraptions(with an honourable mention to the non-traditional ending that will have you going WTF!?!) The plot essentially focuses on the tension that exists between Sam and the rest of the troupe- relating to his claims that he has seen Kai out in the woods. They think he's nuts, and it just leads them to bully him more.As a sort of "f*ck you" to the troupe, Sam goes off wandering into the woods to hunt for Kai himself.Not only does he succeed in finding him, but they interact with one another- before Sam makes a run for it.Little do any of them know that the adult psychopath plans on hunting them down one-by-one, starting with the townsfolk who followed the group into the woods.This psychopath guy & feral child have fashioned themselves a WWII era style bunker and alert system through which they monitor the premises of their territory- which is replete with a variety of automated booby traps (some lethal, some strategic).I don't want to go into the storyline too much (cause you should watch it), but the way the film is structured leaves room for a lot of interpretation and your own imaginative readings. For example, the picture he carries around with the scratched out face is never explained. But one could speculatively deduce that his aforementioned violent and traumatic past related him somehow to Kai (his brother, I was thinking)..and perhaps even to the man (as his father(?)). This would explain why he didn't just kill Sam right-off, when provided the oppourtunity.The film has a sort of slice-of-life feel to it, because of it's abrupt ending- which leaves a few loose ends open. Like, what happens to Gries and the pack leader kid? They managed to survive it seemed. Did they escape? Was the final shot of the film alluding to the fact they were still being hunted? One can only speculate, I suppose.In the end this an imaginatively fun film that breaks a bunch of standard taboos. It's simple, but well made...and is designed to incorporate the viewer into the experience by leaving elements open enough for us to speculate (or unlock through symbolism) about. Worth a watch for the awesome booby traps alone! 6.5 out of 10

Some films resonate a story so superb that it stays with you forever. I feel that way with "Cub". I wouldn't be surprised if this was picked up and made for the American audience since Hollywood has completely run out of original stories... or should I say created a studio nepotism that makes it so the cream does not go to the top. This film is not in English so I'm sure very few in the US have seen it. It's is worth every minute of your time! This film has it all.. I won't go into details.. but the protagonist's journey is wonderfully constructed, a great cast, beautifully shot and to mention once more.. one of the best stories in the horror genre in years!

That's an advice anyone participating in a horror movie should follow. But if they did, we wouldn't have a movie, would we? So if you like a good slasher/horror/backwoods movie, you will "enjoy" this. It won't redefine the genre, but it knows its rules and where to go without losing the audience.A European horror movie that has the template down, the acting is OK, the effects are really good too. It's not too explicit (only from time to time there's a violence spike), but when it is, you get to see quite a bit of violence. The ending might confuse a few people, but I liked the way it prepared us for what was about to happen ...