If this were strictly a horror movie, it could be criticized for starting out very slow. We get lots of background info about the leads, a married couple consisting of a wife who is newly pregnant, and a rock-band husband who is dedicated to a life of footloose irresponsibility, and is opposed to the concept of settling down and raising a family. He does not know that his wife is pregnant, and she is understandably reluctant to tell him. She wants a family; he doesn't. She has mysterious and wonderful new life growing inside of her, and he wants to go on tour and play music and have fun, as he always has. It's not that he's a bad person: he just doesn't want to grow up and give up rock-and-roll NeverNeverLand.
This couple goes into the woods and encounters a band of Lost Boys carousing, shooting off guns, drinking, whooping-and-hollering, riding noisy 4-wheeler off-road vehicles, and just being total jackasses and jerks--evading responsibility for their lives and proud of it. When will they grow up? Never.
Opposed to this band of boys who can't grow up, dangerous creatures lurk in the woods, hidden and deadly. The key scene in the film occurs when one of these creatures slowly reveals herself to Dana (the pregnant protagonist), and gradually morphs from monster into something more recognizably human. Now less threatening, the female creature touches Dana's belly, establishing the identification between her condition and primordial nature.
This, I think, is the basic paradigm of this symbolic fable. The world of Man is so split off that Nature has become monstrous and deadly. The film is a fable expressed through a horror movie. But really, the same could be said of many "horror movies." If a viewer is expecting a pure action horror, the film is likely to be disappointing. But there is much more going on here. And, thankfully, this is not another found-footage shaky-cam horror flick. Cinematography is good (as is the direction and acting). I'll likely watch this again.
This couple goes into the woods and encounters a band of Lost Boys carousing, shooting off guns, drinking, whooping-and-hollering, riding noisy 4-wheeler off-road vehicles, and just being total jackasses and jerks--evading responsibility for their lives and proud of it. When will they grow up? Never.
Opposed to this band of boys who can't grow up, dangerous creatures lurk in the woods, hidden and deadly. The key scene in the film occurs when one of these creatures slowly reveals herself to Dana (the pregnant protagonist), and gradually morphs from monster into something more recognizably human. Now less threatening, the female creature touches Dana's belly, establishing the identification between her condition and primordial nature.
This, I think, is the basic paradigm of this symbolic fable. The world of Man is so split off that Nature has become monstrous and deadly. The film is a fable expressed through a horror movie. But really, the same could be said of many "horror movies." If a viewer is expecting a pure action horror, the film is likely to be disappointing. But there is much more going on here. And, thankfully, this is not another found-footage shaky-cam horror flick. Cinematography is good (as is the direction and acting). I'll likely watch this again.