The Backwoods
The Backwoods
| 24 September 2006 (USA)
The Backwoods Trailers

An English couple's holiday in Spain is interrupted when they discover a girl imprisoned in a cabin.

Reviews
artpf

Ledoyen and Considine play a young married couple at the end of the 1970s.They come to visit a friend (Oldman) who now lives in the Basque region because he has married a woman from there (Sánchez-Gijón). Their tranquil summer turns to horror when they discover a girl with horribly mutilated hands in the forest. They try to help her.And take her away from the home in which she is locked.The local villagers, who have to protect the girl, start a pursuit in the forest they know much better than the visitors. Very low budget flick. Slow going. It sucks.

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ma-cortes

Exciting film set at the end of the 1970s , about four tourists threatened by hooligans locals , as there are hunters and prey . When they return to an ancestral village tensions build between them , a brewing conflict with locals becomes a threat to them . As two couples's holiday called Paul (Gary Oldman) , Lucy (Virginie Ledoyen) , Norman (Paddy Considine) , Isabel (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) in Spain are interrupted when they discover a girl imprisoned in a cabin . Ledoyen and Considine play a young married couple who are going through a difficult patch in their relationship and come to visit a friend Paul (Oldman) who now lives in the Basque region because he has married a woman from there (Aitiana Sánchez-Gijón) . It escalates quickly into a bloody battle between Brits and Spanish rednecks (Kandido Uranga , Patxi Bisquert , Lluis Homar) . Paul whose pacifism is put to supreme test attempts to protect a dim-witted little girl who they have found locked . They try to help her by taking her away from a dark house , but the local villagers, who have to protect the girl and seem determined to keep her in atrocious conditions, start a pursuit in the forest they know much better than the visitors . As the jealous as well as resentful locals and desirous of women assault their house , as they are viciously attacked . Their house is put under siege by the incensed villagers , but they defend the mansion with ferocity . Later on , they flee seeking security , but their attempts to help the little girl are hampered by the denseness of the forest and a relentless pursuit by the nasty rednecks .Violent film contains thrills , chills , suspense , twists , and results to be quite entertaining . A controversial violence-themed picture ; dealing with a known plot , as a group of British people go to a rural little village and face increasingly vicious local harassment . As their tranquil summer turns to horror when they discover a girl with horribly mutilated hands in the forest . We are facing a tense film , hard , tough , brilliant in many moments, with some aspect of western , with a grand and impressive ending . The picture packs intrigue , action , intense drama and lots of violence . The story takes parts , here and there , from famous films such as ¨Deliverance", ¨Wild bunch¨ , ¨Next of kin¨ and especially "Straw Dogs" . The main cast is frankly excellent with players of several nationalities as the British Gary Oldman and Paddy Considine ; French Virginie Ledoyen and Spanish Aitiana Sanchez Gijon . Support cast is mostly Spaniard such as Jon Ariño , Lluís Homar who excels in his acting , Kandido Uranga and special appearance of Álex Angulo , ¨Dia De La Bestia¨'s starring . Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine and Virginie Ledoyen were dubbed for the Spanish version of the film. The scenes where the characters had whole scenes with English dialog were all dubbed ; only when the characters spoke in English with the Spanish characters, the dubbing actors said their lines in English ; 'Aitana Sánchez-Gijon' dubbed herself . Unax Mendia cinematography is excellent creating a rainy and cold atmosphere , he's expert on sombre photography , being stunningly shot on location in Navarra woods . Thrilling and moving musical score by Fernando Velazquez who subsequently would make a notorious career with successful films as ¨Orphanage¨ , ¨Devil¨ , ¨Mama¨ and ¨The impossible¨ . The flick was finely produced by the chairman of Filmax Productions , Julio Fernandez along with his brother Carlos Fernandez as executive producer , they're two successful producers and experts on terror genre , producing a lot of hits , such as ¨The machinist¨, ¨Rec ¨1¨, 2¨ and ¨3¨ , ¨Fragiles¨, ¨Darkness¨, ¨El perfume¨ , ¨The nun¨ , ¨Transsiberian¨ and many others . The flick was professionally directed by Koldo Serra in his only film and obtained moderated success . Serra uses many long shots, showing a leisurely narrative pace . Definitely a big "debut" of director Koldo Serra who promises to be a great filmmaker .

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MattyGibbs

A small thriller starring Gary Oldman and Paddy Considine sounded too good to be true when I chanced upon it recently and unfortunately it is. Two couples on a Spanish holiday chance upon an imprisoned girl in an abandoned house, take her in and then find trouble from the locals when they find they have taken her. The opening half hour is very tedious and better casting of the female characters would have been preferable as the relationships between the two couples just didn't ring true. Even Gary Oldman and Paddy Considine are pretty lacklustre. Once the girl was found I did expect things to liven up but sadly it clumsily plods on at a sedate pace with random acts of savagery thrown in. There was surprisingly an almost total lack of tension which bearing in mind the plot is pretty unforgivable. This is nicely filmed but is a very disjointed and disappointing effort and not one I would recommend.

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wpsandberg-1

This piece of Doo-Doo should have been left on the shelf, to call it art is to call a polished turd ART! Watched it from start to finish and felt like I had just watched nothing. Who does the little girl belong to? Why is she in the house locked up? Who are all these guys looking for her? What's the bit between the couple where she's an ice cube? There's so much left hanging this thing was a complete flop. At the end of the film I'm waiting for some explanation as to what I just watched and get nothing, is Oldman dead? What's with the "I can't find my nickers" when their swimming, OK if not did someone take them and if so who and why, this thing is nothing but a bunch of ?????

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