- In this unpredictable and shocking coming-of-age story, three high-school girls on a weekend getaway impulsively take a menacing trespasser captive when he shows up at their remote mountain cabin. Fueled by desperation, alcohol and a childhood story about a mountain murder, Ruth, Deb and Kate endure a long, terrifying night with their captive before it all erupts in a dramatic and deadly end. Shot
Description
In this unpredictable and shocking coming-of-age story, three high-school girls on a weekend getaway impulsively take a menacing trespasser captive when he shows up at their remote mountain cabin. Fueled by desperation, alcohol and a childhood story about a mountain murder, Ruth, Deb and Kate endure a long, terrifying night with their captive before it all erupts in a dramatic and deadly end. Shot on location in the spectacular Colorado Rocky Mountains, Wilderness Survival … More >>
November 8th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Quite frankly, I’d pay to watch him read the phone book. But it turned out to be a very interesting little independent film. Shot by a husband and wife team and made on a literal shoestring, it takes the conventions of teenage slasher films and the angst of teenage coming-of-age films and combines the two for a fairly satisfying bit of storytelling. I even watched it a second time with the director commentary on, and that was almost as good as the movie, itself. It’s essentially a primer for making a low-budget independent film. Plus, all the actors (there are only four) are very good. James and Jeanette Brox, the girl who plays Ruth, are better than very good. Their one-on-one scenes are just riveting.
SPOILER AHEAD!
The reason that I only gave the movie 4 stars is that I occasionally found the girls to be so incredibly stupid that it really grated on me. I understand that teenage girls aren’t usually rocket scientists, and I realize that these three girls were also stoned/drunk, which is never conducive to making good choices, but Kate and Deb’s decision to leave Ruth alone with the man, not once, but twice, made me want to throw something at the screen. There’s stupid, and then there’s terminally stupid. On the other hand, that decision gives the audience more of the twisted emotional pas de deux between the man and Ruth, and it is a dance that is well worth watching.
Rating: 4 / 5
November 8th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
… and the parts are pretty good on their own. But the collection of relative unknowns (writers, directors, actors, composers, best boys) fits together perfectly in this film. A teen slasher film turned on its head, Wilderness Survival for Girls has a concise and refreshing premise — three teenage girls encounter a strange man in a cabin in the woods and, out of fear, take HIM hostage. It owes a bit to Roman Polanski’s Death And The Maiden (1994), but with a decidedly younger and more universal feel. The filmmakers find the perfect tone to set, and the actors more than meet it – all four performances are nuanced and compelling.
Wilderness Survival For Girls is not a showy, sprawling epic; it is a clean, tight flick that knows what marks it wants to hit and nails them exactly.
Rating: 5 / 5
November 8th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Three girls in an isolated cabin, one mysterious stranger. You know the drill. Or do you? “Wilderness Survival for Girls” is astoundingly low-budget. I’m talking a camera and food for the four cast members and that’s about it. But it delivers a pretty solid experience that I can say was fairly unique and unexpected for what I assumed would be a slasher flick.
Our three girlfriends celebrate graduation by vacationing in the mountains. When they arrive at their cabin, they find a dead fox in their fridge. Is that ever a good omen? Next order of business: nude sunbathing, my favorite spectators’ sport. The girls are cute, likable, and lighthearted, but they’ve got issues. There’s the virgin (you know the type), the wild child, and the hot chick with glasses. I really like hot chicks with glasses. Anywho, faux creepiness happens (wild child is a prankster) and then after toking out and trying to get a round of scary stories going, a man suddenly enters the house. The girls hold him at gunpoint and tie him up. This is where the film gets damned unpredictable. The man has done nothing wrong. He has simply been living in a cabin he thought abandoned and come home after a long day of hiking. The girls are afraid if they let him go, he will come back and go all Friday the 13th on them. No phone, car won’t start; what to do? Apparently, of you are wild child and glasses girl, you get into an argument and then go far away to make out. Fact: in any group of three hot girls, any two that are left alone will make out with each other. It’s science. And when I say “it’s science” I mean I made it up. Don’t burst my bubble, ‘kay?
At this point, the virgin decides that wild child’s advice (given earlier, while sunbathing) that she should masturbate more was really smart. Especially to put into practice while she is alone with a strange man tied to a chair and a gun present. Why not go to the bathroom for some impromptu sexual self-stimulation? Oh right; the strange man tied to the chair. DOH! Okay, the stupid in this movie ends there. It doesn’t unfold how you think it will. In fact, it’s quite brilliant, disturbing, and realistic how it does.
The picture quality is one thing I found annoying about this movie. It’s very inconsistent and grainy; when I said “camera and food for the four cast members” I wasn’t joking. And it wasn’t a very good camera, either. However, the film is skillfully and professionally shot. The performances are solid and each character keeps you guessing. Will the girls’ friendship fall apart under the tension, leaving them easily manipulated by the stranger? Will the virgin find love in the oddest of places? Who -if anyone- is the real psychopath and what can paranoia and the instinct for self-preservation do to a person under stress? Let’s just say that the entire situation could have been handled better by every person involved and leave it at that.
There are a few exploitation elements in this film, but that’s not why you should see it. A bit of nudity and some girl-girl kissing do not a sexploitation flick make. There is not a lot of violence, gore, or even scares here. This film is about tension, human nature, and poor choices that end badly for everybody involved. On a budget this small, one couldn’t ask for much more. Had this film played out in a more traditional way, I’d give it 3 or 3 1/2 stars, but I think this is a really worthwhile piece that was well-crafted and at under 80 minutes, doesn’t overstay it’s welcome so I’m giving it a boost for getting the job done without resorting to excessive sex and violence. Check it out for sure, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Rating: 4 / 5
November 8th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
The film started out like the usual slasher flick, but then turned 180 degrees. Instead of looking at the scary external threat, it looked inwards at the teenage girls themselves – their fears, tortured friendship politics, sexuality and so on. Kind of ambitious, but the acting was a revelation, down to split-second facial expressions that gave away the insecurity, longing and occasional resentment beneath the old-friends-hangin’-out exterior. This a subtle story, with a lot of meat for late-night discussions of social/parental influences and how they shape everything from our self image to our attitudes towards the opposite sex and the way we react to unfamiliar/scary situations. Apart from being fresh and really unique, it certainly makes you look more closely at your friends’ eyes to make sure they’re not hiding something from you!
Rating: 5 / 5