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 .

lathe-of-heaven Well, this is just one of those films that after you finish watching it you feel (at least I did) like 'Why the hell did I watch this in the first place...?The elements within the film were done well; the acting was quite good all around. But there just was no real substance behind the story at all. If they could have just given the story and and script a little more thought so that it actually lead somewhere, then it COULD possibly have packed a LOT bigger punch at the end. The frustrating thing is that the elements making up the film were good enough to keep you interested and thinking that something just MIGHT happen to make it satisfying and worthwhile. But then after all this buildup you are not really left with much...Good acting and some suspenseful situations are just not really enough to carry a film. Perhaps a more substantial or meaningful background story might have helped. BUT, if you are looking for ANY kind of serious Horror or substance, then likely you will not find this film very satisfying at all.People compare it to 'DELIVERANCE' To me, that is a TOTAL insult to 'DELIVERANCE' YES, you have a vague 'backwoods' type people vs. city people vibe going on, and there definitely is some unpleasantness that makes it tense. But it all just goes bloody NOWHERE. And please DON'T get me started on the ending. And, I don't see how they could POSSIBLY have achieved a more pointless and unsatisfying ending.I THINK the direction that the film makers were trying to achieve was along the lines of a lot of European films that are more dramatically oriented. You know, like the ones where it's all 'talk' but not much really happens. With that kind of film, the enjoyment is in the subtlety and depth of the 'Drama' and character interactions. To me, it seems like that is what they are trying to do here, but with a tense, 'backwoods' setting. The point is, that if you are FOCUSING primarily on that element, then you'd better do it VERY well! That means that you need to provide a LOT more depth to the characters and perhaps MUCH deeper insights into who and what they are. But, this is lacking here. So, unfortunately you don't have that kind of satisfying feeling of both having deeply related to the people or their emotional situations. So, all that is left is the 'story' or 'action', such as it is. But, I'm sorry people, it just simply isn't there...So, despite some good acting and a few well executed tense situations, the film seems to be lacking in any serious depth, substance, or character development that would genuinely involve the audience...

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 ?????

Coventry I'm seriously confused about how to properly write a critique on "The Backwoods" without being either overly negative or positive, but nevertheless express my respect to the cast and crew for the film they intended to make. This is a genuine throwback to the era of 70's exploitation film-making, with a truly grim atmosphere and uncompromising violence, but at the same time it's completely unoriginal and derivative. I've read an extended interview with writer/director Koldo Serra, in which he declares that he doesn't understand why so many horror movies are being remade nowadays even though the originals aren't open for any kind of improvement. That might very well be true, and Lord knows I wholeheartedly agree with such a statement, but Serra goes so far in 'bringing homage' to the original classics that he practically copies them as well. "The Backwoods" isn't a remake of any existing 70's flick, but it easily could have been, since it bluntly borrows elements from "Deliverance", "Straw Dogs" and "The Wild Bunch". Cleverly set in the year 1978, so that the script at least didn't had to take into account malfunctioning mobile phones and navigation systems losing their signal, "The Backwoods" revolves on two couples spending a little vacation deep in nearly impenetrable woods of the Spanish Basque region. Paul, the oldest and wisest of the four, bought the old house of his grandmother there and wants to show the beautiful region to his wife and friends. After some very unfriendly welcoming vibes in the local bar already, the quartet faces the ultimate confrontation with the primitive backwoods community when Paul and Norman discover a neglected young girl chained up in a hidden cabin. The girl is the outgrowth of a humiliating family scandal, and the local patriarch Paco so desperately want to keep her existence secret that he mobilizes the rest of the locals for an old-fashioned manhunt. "The Backwoods" is an uneven mishmash of a film in which downright powerful sequences are altered with dreadful clichés and predictable plot twists. The gritty and relentless atmosphere of 70's survival flicks is marvelously re-created, but the script doesn't have the courage to genuinely shock the audience with twisted little details or perverted undertones like they did in the old days. The filming locations are stupendous and the producers managed to attract a fantastic cast (including the brilliant Gary Oldman and Virginie Ledoyen). It's really a shame this film doesn't feature anything truly unique, because I really wanted to like and recommend it.