Never before in my reviewing career have I had the opportunity to follow a project from the earliest script and concept art stages to final produced film, but in the case of THE WOODS, I’ve watched from the beginning. I read the script before the deal was done, I saw tapes of the auditions, I visited the set for the final two weeks of shooting, and I’ve seen it evolve in post-production as the result of different edits and new dialogue recording.
As regular readers know, the director has been a friend of mine for ten years.
Jaye Barnes-Luckett, who composed three of the songs you’ll hear onscreen, is not just a friend but also a former bandmate and room-mate. And since the shoot, actress Lauren Birkell has also become a good friend. So it isn’t exactly likely or possible that I would or could ever hate the movie, though I should note that MGM/UA have not paid me a dime to plant praise (my trip to the set was paid for entirely by me), and, as I write this review, I do so without the knowledge of anyone there.
Lauren Birkell, Jaye Barnes-Luckett, and Agnes Bruckner shortly after the shoot wrapped.
That said, I didn’t think this movie could possibly surprise me. But the new cut managed exactly that.
It’s okay to be suspicious of what I’m saying. I know that the only reviews to leak out of the test screening last year were pretty bad. Let me first address what has changed since then:
-The test screening featured a deliberately “shocking” ending that wasn’t in the script, but rather, creatively assembled by re-contextualizing existing footage. That ending is gone now.
-The special effects are finished
-The sound mix is finished, which is a huge, huge thing. Throughout the film, the sounds of creaking and branches and wind blowing through the trees and creepy whispers that could almost be the voices in your head do not let up, and that’s extremely effective.
-Early hype for THE WOODS focused on Bruce Campbell, which in hindsight may have been a mistake. He is in the movie, but in a supporting role. Reading those early reviews, I got the impression that some people were angry because they expected to see Bruce kick ass against monsters again. Not only does he not...he pretty much gets his ass handed to him. This isn’t EVIL DEAD 4. Agnes Bruckner and Patricia Clarkson are the stars.
-the origin story behind those mysterious woods has changed a little bit, to be less needlessly complex.
-the editing is radically different. Events happen in a different order, and scenes are interspliced that were not before, significantly upping the tension and quickening the pace.
-scenes that didn’t make the first cut have been added back in, all for the good.
-the use of color timing also has a major impact on the new cut.
Now, what will fans of MAY think? My first reaction, on seeing the first dailies of THE WOODS, was how remarkable it was that cinematographer John Leonetti managed to capture the same kind of Argento-esque feel that Steve Yedlin did in MAY. Clearly Lucky McKee has a certain visual style that he favors. Plotwise, I was worried about THE WOODS’ ability to connect with the fans when I saw the earlier cuts, but this new one leaves no doubt that there will be a rabid following for it. How big that following will be, I can’t say. But I think it will grow over time.
Director of Photography John R. Leonetti
Where MAY was an allegory for the difficulty of finding love, THE WOODS is an allegory for adolescence. Heather Fasulo (Agnes Bruckner) is no shrinking violet or cracked psyche; she’s a cocky wanna-be “bad girl” who always has a sarcastic quip at the ready. Yet her world is anything but stable: Mom (Emma Campbell, who’s no relation to Bruce) is a shrewish social climber who seems to want nothing to do with the task of child raising, and Dad (Bruce Campbell) is an ineffective weakling. To top it all off, Heather constantly hears voices, and apparently has a penchant for setting fires. So she’s unloaded to boarding school, at a place called Falburn Academy, in the middle of the woods. Here, Heather is going to realize very explicitly that she is not in control of anything, and only after she’s been broken down will she realize that her apparent weaknesses are actually her biggest strengths. I think every creative type person can relate to that theme; how many of us were tormented or isolated in high school and college for the very things that now propel us upward? I guess none of us had to reckon with evil spirits, though we may have thought we did.
Agnes Bruckner encounters an evil spirit.
Patricia Clarkson, playing headmistress Miss Traverse, nicely straddles the line between substitute mother figure and possible monster, right up until the point that her allegiances are made absolutely clear. The other teachers, however, threaten to steal the show. I don’t recall all their names, but Marcia Bennett as Miss MacKinaw is likely to stick in most peoples’ minds, with her quavery voice and drastic facial twitch.
Marcia Bennett, smiling as her character never does.
Regarding the other girls, well, Lauren Birkell is very good indeed as Heather’s nerdy friend Marcy, but in the current cut of the film, you don’t quite get the sense of the range Lauren’s capable of (expect a long and fruitful career from her -- you heard it here first). Rachel Nichols is hilarious as school bully Samantha, and whoever did her hair is a master coiffer. To reveal too much about Kathleen Mackey’s performance would be to spoil, but I’ll remind you that she was the nekkid vengeful ghost girl in GOTHIKA, and is way more frightening here.
I do have one or two minor quibbles. The film is set in 1965, but it doesn’t need to be -- all the date really does is explain why Mrs. Fasulo dresses like Jackie O, and that could be explained just by saying she’s eccentric. As a result of the date, I noticed two apparent anachronisms -- the first is that Marcy’s radio has tiny earpieces like those on contemporary iPods; where they really making them that small in the ‘60s? The other is when Heather at one point utters the phrase, “They totally lied!” Sounds more like modern slang than retro, though I guess one could make a case that it’s vaguely grammatical.
Another issue that may be just for me is that there’s one scene where new dialogue has been given to a particular character, so to get around lip-synch issues she has her hair hanging over her face in almost every shot used. I notice because I’ve seen more than one cut -- you may not.
The soundtrack is a revelation. If you’re like me, you’re a faggy rainbow-hair heeh heeh heeh...I mean, wait, if you’re like me, you may know the name of Leslie Gore as the singer of “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to.” I don’t like that song at all, but Lucky’s dad is a longtime fan of her other work, and some vastly superior songs from her oeuvre have been put to good use in THE WOODS -- “Young and Foolish”, “He Said Goodbye”, and most prominently “You Don’t Own Me” which in the film features a new harmonic choral track put together by Jaye, who did the MAY soundtrack. It’s a 180 degree shift from her work on MAY, as is another choral number that becomes key to the plot. Fans of Jaye’s pop n’ roll style, however, should keep their ears out for a more standard number that plays in the background of another scene. Back to Leslie Gore, though -- this is the sort of rediscovery of her work that’s on a par with Tim Burton’s use of Calypso in BEETLEJUICE.
And speaking of MAY, see if you can recognize Angela Bettis’ voice on the soundtrack. I didn’t, and I know her. But maybe you will.
I realize I haven’t discussed the plot much -- it’s really too early to go into a lot of detail, I think, besides which this is more of a mood piece anyway. But if I had to compare THE WOODS to another movie, it’d be Neil Jordan’s THE COMPANY OF WOLVES. Make of that what you will, and if you’re a horror fan who hasn’t seen that flick, do.
As for the Chin, the great Bruce Campbell...He has some really good scenes. But none of them involves chainsaws, zombies, or him being in charge of things. Let the guy stretch a bit.
Also there’s no nudity. Many of the girls weren’t quite legal, ya sickos.
ADDENDUM: Apparently, some readers didn't think I made my feelings toward the movie clear enough -- maybe my comparisons to Argento and Neil Jordan mean nothing because you're either not familiar with them or imagine that I might somehow not have a high opinion of them. Let me spell it out: THIS IS ONE DAMN FINE MOVIE. I had an adrenaline surge afterwards. The constant sound of the woods, the deliberate harshness of the editing, the voices in your head...all these kept me on edge the entire time.
As for the script -- I still don't quite understand what the deal is with balancing the stones. Never did. But the characters are nicely done even when the story gets abstract.
