I went to a catholic school during my high school years, and the teachers used to tell the students we should trust our neighbors. But, with the fast times we’re living and even more violence and weirdoes seem to creep out of nowhere like Pennywise offering balloons— can we really trust anyone these days? Backwoods gives us the answer with low-budget massacre that may or may not disappoint slasher fans.

After waking up bound and locked inside somebody’s car trunk, Molly (Isabella Alberti), the cool and friendly cheerleader dating the quarterback, finds out that this won’t be the most difficult revelation of her night as her survival skills are put to test while being chased by literally every male character in the film. But, is everyone trying to hurt her? Not all bad boys are evil and not all good guys are knights in shining armor. Is it her jealous boyfriend trying to teach her a lesson? Could it her boyfriend’s dealer? Or maybe it’s the ghost of a backwoods creature known as the hangman searching for his next wife.

Backwoods sure knows how to deliver a confusing plot by adding several villains to distract the audience and later, at the middle of the film, rubs a wow factor in their faces that probably should’ve been revealed near the end but this way makes you wait even longer for the final redemption scenes. It makes it hard to stop paying attention to the screen as it goes back and forth with flashbacks that explain how the character of Molly ended in that conundrum of male toxicity. Sadly, the ending is weak as are several of the characters created under typical high school movie profiles. I can’t say that the cast is bad because they aren’t— they’re amazing and the chemistry is there. But the purposes and goals of each character seemed to make it hard for them to express the essence of it.

The subjects are very modern and outdated at the same time as jock and date rape drugs circle around the stream of the plot. Stockholm syndrome is also demonstrated by a few characters, mostly women, as some show obsession with others and others show how much they’re in love with their aggressors. The effects are very basic and cheap but none of it fails to deliver when it comes to dropping bodies like flies with bug spray. It’s a smaller body count than any usual or known slasher— and for that it gives the fans of the genre very visual and visceral kill scenes.

Backwoods is the slasher masher of after-school specials. It seems to have no paved road to walk on but the message is clear for actual times of movements like #MeToo in which it insists on taking care of each other and limiting your trust because sometimes the heroes may turn out to be the true villains.

7 OUT OF 10 ROPES