Wild Country (2005)

8/10

I guess you could call this a werewolf movie, though it does veer off the usual mythology. There may be some connection with an olden inbred family of cannibals. The wolves are not tied to the moon at all. I wrote this as I was watching the DVD, so the description is pretty linear. Here's a big spoiler- it's a horror movie and people die.

We have our girl, Kelly, who has to be our Final Girl; Father Steve ('Father'), a priest who encourages Kelly to give up her baby; and Mark, the picked upon guy, who I'm guessing is going to be Hero Guy.

Fast forward 6 weeks (thanks title card). Kelly goes on a backpacking trip with a youth group to the outer wilds. While the driving goes on for a while, the scenery is rather lovely. Father breaks the silence to tell a story about Sonnay Bean (no idea if that is spelled correctly), a cannibal and his family who met their demise centuries ago by the king's army. However, some of the clan may have escaped, and could even still be living in the area! So Father drops them off with maps and tells them to be at the bed & breakfast marked on the maps tomorrow. They all look at the maps like they were a new invention.

Hiking time, complete with spooky noises (in the daytime, no less). Cut to Father showing up at the b&b. Cut to dinner at camp. Amazingly, all the night scenes are well lit, so we can actually see the characters! For some reason One of the girls goes wandering off and runs into a creepy fur-wearing dude who is chased off by the girl's friends. Scratch one dude. Later on, Kelly hears noises and investigates with one of the guys in tow. She enters a condemned castle ("Danger of falling masonry"). FEAR the sheep! The two of them find a pit with bloody human remains and a human baby. Kelly takes the baby. She must be feeling really guilty about giving up her own baby to be that stupid.

Back at camp, Kelly breast feeds the baby and gets nipped. Then the morons decide to travel at night. Way to get lost and/or hurt. Oops, so much for Mark making it to the end. Call me Nostradamus, someone got hurt. See spoilers for my take on this scene.

Back to wandering around. I can't tell if they got back to the castle on purpose on by accident. Exploring! Morning, and there is a wolf outside. Kelly may not be smart, but she's got some moxie. "Run away! Run away!" Well, at least they are safe until they starve. Heartfelt dialogue ensures.

Getting away! Steer-herder savior! Wow, that was unexpected, cool FX. Good news, the B&B has been found. Bad news, I'm expecting everyone is going to die. Naughty Father! Been getting his groove on with the hostess!

All kinds of insanity ensues. The end.

A straightforward movie. Kids are chased by creatures in the middle of nowhere. Good practical effects, a welcome departure from CGI. Except for one plot point and one scene, I really enjoyed this movie. The pacing was fairly even throughout, with very little "Blair Witch" bickering scenes. Good atmosphere, definite gore, and shock scares. Worthy of a rental, and probably a buy if you are a big werewolf fan. Also, Scottish accents are really funny when played at 2x speed.

**** Thoughts and spoilers

-Kelly must really, really be messed up to take a baby from a bloody pit. I don't care if she feels guilty for giving up her own baby, this is just borderline insane.

-The scene where the other girl falls down the ravine docked the movie an entire point, just for that scene. It was so contrived and badly executed. Ok, girl, you hurt your shoulder, now use your other arm to get up and run! She seemed more confused than scared, and got a friend killed, to boot. Arg!

-Father is a complete dick. Locking the door on the woman you were in bed with 5 minutes ago, you jerk.

-All of you who did not see Kelly turning at the end raise your hands. Those with your hands raised, go to Remedial Horror 101, now.