The British film industry used to boast some of the best horror films ever made, with the possible exception of the Exorcist. We had our own home grown business with such films as The Wickerman, various Hammer House of horror films and movies such as Straw Dogs (shot in the UK). Then things went very quiet and it seemed as if the British had given up making damn good horror.
Wilderness has come out of the UK film industry's attempts to go back to the good old days of believable horror pictures. Firstly, you had 28 days later, Dog Soldiers, The Last Great Wilderness and most recently, The Descent. All are incredibly interesting movies showing a rare inventiveness in horror film direction, usually despite a tiny budget. The British have shown that horror does not need a rack of special effects to make it creepy, it just needs a simple plot line and a villain you don't see until the last few frames.
In Wilderness, you don't get much simpler than that. Take a group of male young offenders and their guardian and put them on a remote Scottish or Irish island, then add the mcguffin of an old hippy tramp, finally add some female young offenders then add the real villain of the piece and some hunter dogs. Now start killing off the key film characters with a variety of nasty, bloody methods and moments and then add some mutiny and a little of the untamed male 'hunter' mentality and you have a film which 'tried' to be something fascinating.
Wilderness suffers, in my opinion, from 2 things. The twin curses of poor dialogue and there being no real sense of danger. The people are not really marooned on this island, they have some means of getting off it - hence no real sense of desperation which a film like this sorely needed. This is a real pity. The director had the makings of a serious horror movie - a kind of Lord of the Flies meets Deliverance with little bits of First Blood Part 1 thrown in (some nasty traps) and hints of Predator (not really seeing the hunter until the last few minutes). I hope, though that the Director of this will make other horror films. it all looks like its going in the right direction and the more good horror movies out there, the better.
Wilderness has come out of the UK film industry's attempts to go back to the good old days of believable horror pictures. Firstly, you had 28 days later, Dog Soldiers, The Last Great Wilderness and most recently, The Descent. All are incredibly interesting movies showing a rare inventiveness in horror film direction, usually despite a tiny budget. The British have shown that horror does not need a rack of special effects to make it creepy, it just needs a simple plot line and a villain you don't see until the last few frames.
In Wilderness, you don't get much simpler than that. Take a group of male young offenders and their guardian and put them on a remote Scottish or Irish island, then add the mcguffin of an old hippy tramp, finally add some female young offenders then add the real villain of the piece and some hunter dogs. Now start killing off the key film characters with a variety of nasty, bloody methods and moments and then add some mutiny and a little of the untamed male 'hunter' mentality and you have a film which 'tried' to be something fascinating.
Wilderness suffers, in my opinion, from 2 things. The twin curses of poor dialogue and there being no real sense of danger. The people are not really marooned on this island, they have some means of getting off it - hence no real sense of desperation which a film like this sorely needed. This is a real pity. The director had the makings of a serious horror movie - a kind of Lord of the Flies meets Deliverance with little bits of First Blood Part 1 thrown in (some nasty traps) and hints of Predator (not really seeing the hunter until the last few minutes). I hope, though that the Director of this will make other horror films. it all looks like its going in the right direction and the more good horror movies out there, the better.