‘The Haunting of Black Wood’ Review
Stars: Katherine Waterston, Scott Eastwood, Sara Paxton, Shaun Sipos, Christopher Denham, Jesse Perez, Leigh Lezark, Vic Finalborgo | Written by Shawn Christensen, Jason Dolan | Directed by Jack Heller
Three strangers find themselves lost in a strange forest. Stuck together in the same cabin with supplies and heat scarce, they try to figure a way out of their situation. As they begin to learn more about each other, secrets are revealed and they find that they may be all connected in more ways than they realised. As the mystery grows about their situation, they find there is no way to escape their cabin in the woods, and that they might not be as alone as they first thought…
The Haunting of Black Wood (aka Enter Nowhere) is a mystery film that will keep you guessing right until the end. This film is definitely in the same vein as Cabin in the Woods, not just because there is a cabin in the woods but also because it is slightly mind bending. Although Black Wood may seem a bit slow to start, once it gets going, I promise you will find yourself as hooked as I was. Especially as you try to figure out what is going on right up until the very satisfying reveal towards the end. I’m glad to say I didn’t manage to guess it, but felt I was quite close. To me that is definitely a sign that the film has done its job, giving you just enough to keep you guessing but not enough so you will guess the secret before it is revealed.
The main three characters, Samantha (Katherine Waterston), Tom (Scott Eastwood) and Jody (Sara Paxton) were all very strongly portrayed. I never once felt that the characters weren’t real, each having their own styles and personality to really keep the film going and interesting. It gets even more interesting when… Ah you almost got me, you crafty reader. No, I can’t really tell you anything more about this film because it is definitely one you need to watch for yourself. I feel it was really well done, it had the potential to be quite slow and boring being mainly a story about three people stuck in a cabin, but it keeps going and more as you watch it.
I don’t really have much more to say about The Haunting of Black Wood, except that it if you are expecting a horror film, especially with that title, you will have to look elsewhere. This is definitely a tale of mystery not one of scares. Apart from that, this film is definitely worth a watch, I highly recommend it.
The Haunting of Black Wood is released on January 26th, courtesy of Metrodome.
