Deep in
the Woods
When cineasts rave about the quality of French films, chances
are they generally don't have teen slasher flicks in
mind. Nonetheless, in the genre of "young pretty people getting stalked by
a mystery masked man," Lionel Delplanque's
newest import certainly beats the hell out of any sequels to Scream, Urban
Legend or, God help us, Jeepers Creepers. The set-up is truly weird
in a way that only a European would come up with: An insane millionaire
(François Berléand) invites a theater troupe of
impossibly pretty young things out to his chateau in the middle of the woods to
perform their version of Little Red Riding Hood in front of his freaky,
deaf-mute child (Thibault Truffert).
Once the play is done and the scary Big Bad Wolf costume is established as a
perfect trademark look for a masked killer, the youngsters stay the night, and
bad things happen. Though the kids, and by extension, the plot, are often
implausibly stupid (upon being told by a policeman to stay indoors because a
dangerous rapist is on the prowl, they promptly run outside into the woods to
have sex), the cinematography and sets are stylish, and the nudity and violence
are not skimped on as they usually are on these shores. It's a shame this film
is confined to the "