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Terror at Black Tree Forest
UK 2021
produced by Martin W. Payne, Scott Brand (executive), Hill Burton (executive), Dustin Ferguson (executive), Ryan Haughey (executive), Marvin Maddicks jr (executive), Chris Seven (executive) for HB Films, Trash Arts
directed by Sam Mason-Bell
starring Cassandre Wallace, Will Jones, Amanda Bourne, Ella Palmer, Annabella Rich, Omar Mahmood Lagares, Max Pill, Martin W. Payne, Katie Johnson, Ben Farrant (voice)
written by Jackson Batchelor, Sam Mason-Bell, based on the film of the same name by Dustin Ferguson, music by Ben Farrant
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Gillian (Will Jones) has taken Jackie (Cassandre Wallace) on a camping
trip to the forest where they've first kissed for a few romantic hours
that culminate in him proposing to her - and when she says no, it breaks
his hears. But that hardly matters as in a manner of minutes they're both
brutally slaughtered by a masked man ... The next day, Gillian and
Jackie's friends Caroline (Amanda Bourne), Molly (Ella Palmer), Jane
(Annabella Rich), Simon (Omar Mahmood Lagares) and Will (Max Pill) arrive
at the same campsite, and they're not at all surprised that they don't
find Gillian and Jackie, figuring they just needed some "alone
time". So they're having a little party round the campfire that
culminates in the obligatory telling of a scary story - pretty much
standard stuff about a psycho who has escaped from a nearby asylum roaming
the woods looking for campers to kill ... when suddenly a masked man jumps
out of the bushes, scaring the heebigeebies out of Jane - not so the
others as they've long suspected that's exactly the prank Simon would
play. And of course, it was just a prank. Jane runs off, and Simon goes
after her to apologize ... and is killed by a masked killer. Eventually,
Caroline can catch up with Jane and calm her down and take her back to the
campfire, but when Simon fails to show up again, the others start to
worry, and all but Jane go look for him ... and get lost in the woods.
They happen upon a weird stranger (Martin W. Payne) who promises to lead
them out of the forest, but he's brutally slaughtered right in front of
them. Now our heroes know they have to run - but not knowing where they
are or where they're headed, they're at a bad disadvantage against their
predator ... A remake of Dustin Feruson's Terror at Black
Tree Forest from 2010 - a film I admit I haven't seen as of this
writing - this movie at hand is a fun slasher movie that doesn't exactly
re-invent the genre but does people its standard situation with colourful
and fleshed out characters, treats things with a certain levity, and
really makes the most out of the premises, especially when considering the
modest budget. The result is no cinematic revelation maybe, but a really
fun piece of genre cinema.
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