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Released by: Anchor Bay
Released on: 10/9/2012
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Cast: Stephen Moyer, Mia Kirshner, Allie MacDonald, Peter DaCunha
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
A family of four goes on a camping trip to the New Jersey Pine Barrens for a nice little getaway to a place where Richard Vineyard (Stephen Moyer) spent time with his father. Richard has an alternate agenda of spreading his father's ashes in The Barrens, where the two shared memories. Making up the rest of the family is his wife Cynthia (Mia Kirshner), his somewhat combative teen-aged daughter Sadie (Cynthia is NOT her mother!), played by (Allie MacDonald), and little six-year old Danny (Peter DaCunha), half-brother to Sadie. Along the ride to The Barrens, Sadie shares the story of The Jersey Devil, a legendary creature that is said to live in The Barrens. That story is told further at a campfire by some young men who are also camping in the state park, and it freaks Richard out. That is the beginning of Richard's breakdown that continues until the story's end.
Bodies of some campers were recently found, which has the local authorities poking their noses around even though they all think it was some bears. But then bodies of some of the campfire goers start turning up, and all eyes are on Richard, who's running a fever, is hallucinating, and wandering off in the woods alone. It's obvious he has some sort of connection with the demon-thing, and he becomes convinced it's after him. Once his family becomes fearful of their own safety while around Richard, the situation becomes one of survival rather than family bonding.
Told in a pretty straightforward manner, The Barrens moves along at a good pace once the initial character build-up is over with. On the surface it sounds kind of meh, but this actually was an engaging movie. Sure, it has a lot of the cliché stuff that shows up in tons of movies (such as bad relationship between step-mother and step-daughter; psycho dad losing his shit). But the movie really does a great job of throwing in different pieces of information to set up a number of possibilities as to where the story will end up. Acting is good, even the little kid, and Vampire Bill does a good job with bat-shit insane.
Richard's bizarre and lightning-fast trip into madness, added with some additional information concerning the legend, brings the story into the realm of the old “is it real or is it in his head?†trick. And adding to that the notion that perhaps Richard is unknowingly the Jersey Devil. Or thinks he is. Lots of ways the story can go at a pretty early stage in the movie makes for an entertaining guessing game on the viewer's part, if the filmmakers did their job right, and these filmmakers seem to have, at least in that department. You really don't know where it's going and it was actually a pleasant surprise to see the direction it took. And they don't leave a nice, easy all-is-tidy ending either, which is commendable.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The movie is shown here with an aspect of 1.78:1 with 1080p resolution. The movie has a dark look to it, so colors don't exactly pop off the screen. They look nice, mind you, just noticeably toned down. It was shot on 16mm and displays lots of natural grain for those who dig it, and detail is nice here. Black levels seem generally fine and no issues were noticed. The audio is a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track and gives the system a nice workout. Every thing sounds in order, and the balance is cool, although the music tends to get old fast. It's one of many film techniques used that keep the movie from being better than it was. That, the drab looks of the movie (obviously done in post production), the flashback fast-cut sequences…all things that make so many horror movies seem like the same thing over and over. Anyway, tangent there…
Writer/director Darren Lynn Bousman (he of the Saw franchise) and director of photography Joseph White provide an entertaining enough commentary for the film. They obviously love talking shop and keep it interesting. It's a typical commentary though, nothing stupendous. One deleted scene is included as the only other extra, which is really an alternate ending for European release (got that off the commentary). The scene is viewable with commentary as well by the same two men. Also, a DVD version of the film is included on a separate disc.
The Final Word:
The Barrens won't knock your socks off, but its worthy of checking out, though you might want to rent it first. It has its flaws for sure, but it is overall pretty entertaining.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
