Deep In The Woods (DVD)

Deep In The Woods (DVD) ... ... / DVD released 26 August, 2002 at Tartan Video / Features of the DVD: Anamorphic, PAL / Deep in the Woods is an average horror film, unusual only because it was made in France. A troupe of young actors who specialise in school performances are hired by sinister aristocrat Francois Berleand to perform their "Little Red Riding Hood" act at his remote mansion as a birthday treat for his strangely silent grandson. As is often the case, the film works better in the early stages as it piles on the omens and disturbing touches, with unsettling byplay between host and guests, than it does in the extended finale, which features the familiar demises of most of the cast as someone dressed in the Big Bad Wolf costume stalks with a spear-gun and unorthodox use is made of a handy nail gun. The young, attractive victims bicker and get naked just like in a rubbish American movie and leading lady/likely survivor Clotilde Courau (best known as the young Anne Parillaud in Map of the Human Heart) is wasted in a nothing role, but mad people Berleand and Lavant provide some entertainment value.--Kim Newman