Review of Wilderness

Thug-campers versus kill-puppies

Michael J. Bassett's 2006 follow-up to Deathwatch realizes the potential that earlier film hinted at. Wilderness finds a group of kids from a juvenile detention centre placed on an isolated island for a supervised camping retreat. Unfortunately, the planned youth bonding exercise goes astray when campers start showing up dismembered. The campers go on the run, trying to find a way off the island while an unseen stalker tries to pick of the delinquents one by one. Bassett has an eye for great compositions that give way to great jolts. Wilderness is not without some amount of blood and gore, but the film's best shockers come during it's quiet moments. The cast of mostly young, unknown actors all turn in good work, too. That is no easy feat for any film, let alone low-budget genre work. Luckily, Bassett doesn't allow horror to get a free pass where acting is considered.

Little effort is made to disguise the identity of the killer, which may disappoint some viewers, but Wilderness still delivers a great climax even without a dramatic reveal. There has been some great independent horror coming out of the UK lately, and this is one more title that fans of the genre should search out.

Aaron.
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Posted on 02/12/08 by: Aaron 10:00 PM