Dark Woods opens by quoting Dante. It’s fitting, of course. No comedy is as bleak as The Divine Comedy. And Dark Woods is about as bleak as they come – in all the right ways. Directed by Michael Escobedo and written by (and starring) John Muscarnero, Dark Woods is the type of psychological thriller you sit through hundreds of art-house movies, searching for the one worth your time. This is one of those.
We start out with Muscarnero’s character, Henry, driving through the woods with his wife, Susan (Tracy Coogan, Zombie Honeymoon), when Susan is awakened by dreams of a girl in a red dress. Susan is terminally ill, depressed by her impending mortality, plagued by dementia, and hoping to live out the rest of her life quietly with Henry in a wooded cabin. Their retreat quickly meets obstacles. Susan is prone to blackouts, further hallucinations… and a man who watches through their windows and creeps into the cabin. This first moment of tension, the home intruder, is directed with perfect atmosphere, and director Escobedo has a clear command on what to do with lighting and color. Remember Bob in Twin Peaks? It feels something like that.
Henry and Susan report the incident to the town Sheriff (James Russo, Public Enemies). Small town horror ensues where the Sheriff shrugs off the break-in, offering the couple no better advice than to keep their doors locked. Although the walls seem to be closing in by the minute, Henry and Susan try to work things through – until the drama really starts when Henry discovers a teenage girl, Alicia (Mary Kate Wiles), under attack in the woods by the same man who watched Susan. Henry takes Alicia back to his house for recovery, and once there finds Susan passed out and unconscious on the floor upstairs.
The visiting doctor says there’s nothing else to be done for Susan, except wait for her to wake up. The Sheriff asks Henry to also care for Alicia while they try to track down her uncle (the assailant) and other family members who could care for her. Henry reluctantly agrees. Now we’ve got Susan in a possible coma, and a lustful teenage girl after a man who’s trying desperately to keep his focus on his wife’s ticking death clock.
What transpires in the rest of Dark Woods is mutely horrific, and the horror operates on a variety of levels. Henry and Susan’s relationship is “real” horror, the cancerous fear that burdens human beings every day. Henry and Alicia explore exploitive, psychological horror in their examination of a man’s will and convictions. Susan’s voice and storyline are surreal, stylistic horror as we witness her decay through her hallucinations and dreams. And the story’s location of cabin isolation harkens to the classic horrors of man versus nature.
All performances are believable, especially impressive considering Muscarnero (Henry, as well as the writer) has no prior acting experience, and Mary Kate Wiles (Alicia) has only done one other feature. Tracy Coogan is the real scene stealer however, creating a character complex to the point of leaving the viewer unsure whether to embrace her, or fear her for what she represents. Although a bit part, James Russo as the Sheriff also does his part to bring gloom to the story, virtually sucking the air out of every scene he appears in.
We’ve been talking here at SCARS how Dark Woods isn’t for everyone. It is ultra-atmospheric, and the devil is in that – not necessarily the details. (They dance around the specifics of Susan’s illness, and other plot issues are never brought to the forefront either.) It takes it’s time creating a boil, something I love that indies can take the time to do, but could turn people off. And for men, Dark Woods might just be too terrifying to deal with.
Dark Woods is playing the festival game currently, but follow this movie where you can if you have a predilection for unflinching, domestic drama.
Tags: Dark Woods, Tracy Coogan
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