[BACKCOUNTRY
screens Thursday April 2nd at 7:15 pm at the Capitol Theatre.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
In an
abstract sense I like the idea that bears exist in the wild; I just
don't particularly want to encounter one on my next nature hike. It's
fairly certain I'm not alone in this regard, which is why
BACKCOUNTRY, a new
minimalist horror film about a couple whose camping trip is violently
interrupted by an ursine intruder, is sure to resonate with a fairly
wide audience.
There
isn't so much a plot as a premise: Alex (Jeff Roop) and his
girlfriend Jenn (Missy Peregrym) are spending a weekend at a park
Alex is familiar with from numerous earlier visits. It's been a few
years, and parts of the park are now closed off to campers, but Alex
still feels confident enough to refuse the map offered by the park
ranger. He's also so concerned about Jenn being on her cell phone the
whole time that he stashes it in the car, unbeknownst to her.
The
two enjoy the beauty of nature and each other's company until Brad
(Eric Balfour) shows up and starts exuding his own alpha male
attitude. When Brad offers to help guide the couple through the
woods, it's clear that it's meant to undercut Alex' masculinity, and
it does.
Leaving
Brad behind, Alex and Jenn continue on their trip, and
writer/director Adam MacDonald keeps ratcheting up the suspense and
tension until it's almost un-bear-able (sorry, couldn't help myself).
Is Brad going to show up again and go all backwoods psycho? Is Alex
going to get them completely lost? And wait, isn't this movie
supposed to be about a killer bear?
Where
the film comes up a little short is in the plotting. What little
there is feels very much by the numbers. It's nice for a movie to
actually take some time to let us get to know its characters before
putting them through the ringer, but for all the time we spend with
them, neither Alex or Jess ever really comes across as particularly
interesting. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't rooting for the bear, but
between Jenn's blandness and Alex' quietly paternalistic
douchebaggery, I can't say I found either of the leads all that
interesting or likeable.
But
hey, this is a horror film. It's not like the campers in any given
FRIDAY THE 13TH
installment make that much of an impression, either. This is a
director's medium, and MacDonald knows how to work the slow burn
build up. It's not great, but it's effective enough to be good. 3 out
of 4 stars.
Now I know that This is a real life situation, but survival mode would have kicked into high gear for me when the bear was ripping through the tent, they had a flare and some spray, my first thought would have been to grab the flare and soon as the bear stuck its mug inside the tent I would have sparked the flare and stuck it right in the Bears face, eyes, I would have burnt the shit out of him, and then on top of that I would have gotten my girl to hit him with the spray, no doubt the bear would have ran or at least given them enough time to get the hell out of there, hell the spray and flare combo might have made a big ass ball of fire, but nope he just lets it come right on in and bite the shit out of him and then eventually drag him of for a very painful death, sad thing is she used the spray once and then when it came back she just gave up on using it again, really they deserved to die by bear!!
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