User Reviews

Toward the end of the movie Brant is kneeling on top of Sandra, who is laying on the ground. He's trying to kill her with a hatchet. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, as he swings the hatchet, he acts like he is hurt, and moves off her, doubled over in pain. That gives her time to grab a rock and hit him over the head (never doing so hard enough or often enough to incapacitate him; that would break one of the rules of Lifetime movies; he has to be able to get up and attack again after she runs away).

I've played that scene multiple times, in slow motion. I see nothing that happens that would cause him to react the way he does. He swings the hatchet, stops well before it reaches her, and moves away from her. She moves as he swings the hatchet, but does not kick him, hit him, or hurt him in any way.

So what caused him to fall off of her? Bad writing? Or did I miss something, even as often as I watched that scene? If anyone knows, leave a review, and I'll check back periodically to see if there is a rational reason for what happened. Though "rational" and "Lifetime movie" are terms that don't do together.

Another thing that bothered me was that the remote "cabin", which was as large and well-decorated as most houses, had no access road, yet was clean, well-built, and perfectly furnished. Even the houseplants were healthy and obviously well taken care of. But did Sandra notice or question any of this, after she had to hike through the woods, without even a trail, to get to the cabin? Nah. That would have violated Lifetime formula rules, too.

I don't expect much from these movies. And I got exactly what I expected. With more plot holes than usual.

The reason I detest Lifetime and Hallmark movies? They're stupid! Started off kind of goofy with the younger sister yakking. Boyfriend picks big sis up he's certainly cute. Then I lost interest. The ending made me laugh at myself for sticking with this movie. Do the sisters really end up ordering a big stack of pancakes after going thru Hell and 3 men dying..... before calling police!? Omg!

The screenwriters of "Secrets in the Woods" (a.k.a., "Off the Grid") cannot be faulted for lack of imagination. When Sandra meets Brant on the internet, the sparks fly, and Brant invites Sandra to his family home deep in the woods. The visit will turn into Sandra's worst nightmare.

There was an effective contrast established between the hardscrabble upbringing of Sandra and her younger sister Becky versus the way in which Brant grew up with his father Langley and his mother Elizabeth. The former was such a desperate situation that Sandra basically raised Becky on her own. The latter was a tightly-knit family on the surface, but a horror story in reality.

The creepiest character in the film is the patriarch Langley who has co-opted his son to effectively kidnap a young woman in order to take the place of Langley's wife Elizabeth, whom he killed. Sandra is kept in chains and forced to cook for the father and son. In one of the most horrific moments, she is locked in the family outhouse.

This is hardly the Cinderella story that Sandra was imagining when she brought along a bright red negligee. The film's unpleasantness was hard to take in the slow-paced midsection. If the filmmakers were aiming for a style of dark comedy, then there was too much "dark" and not enough "comedy." There was also room for improvement in the sloppy fight choreography at the end when the women did battle with the men.

The film develops a theme of the powerful bond of the two sisters, who had learned survival skills growing up in a rough environment. Every one of those skills will be necessary to do combat with the forces of evil in one of the most repellent father-and-son duos imaginable.

It was surprising that someone as practical as Sandra would not have perceived more of the dark side of Brant after three months of dating. Her only takeaway in the early part of the film was that he had "good manners." It is difficult to imagine what their dates were like.

In the end, the best tagline for the toxic masculinity expressed in the film is an offhand remark from Brant early in the film: "The most dangerous animal of all is man."

Ridiculous! I stopped watching when his father looked close to his age! Was the casting agent on crack when he was chosen to play the father! Typical LIFETIME movie..TRIPE!

I submitted the 2 goofs earlier today after watching this movie for the second time (which I sometimes like to do with certain flicks), and decided to write a review when I saw Stoshie's review about the invisible knockout.

I played it back multiple times in slo-mo also, and I saw her drawing her left leg up as he climbed on top of her, then she turned on her left side and raised her right hip to his inner thigh. Apparently that was supposed to be the move that debilitated him and kept him from hitting her with the axe, but it was awfully weak and wouldn't have stopped anyone in real life. So a huge gaping plot hole that they didn't even bother to mask with an actual believable obstacle preventing him from killing her with his weapon (tsk tsk, Lifetime's getting lazy) - only the fact that it's the first most important rule of LMN movies, that the lead actress/heroine can NEVER EVER be killed by the bad guys. Injured, bleeding, hit/punched/slapped/kicked, starving, tied or chained up, sometimes (but rarely) even raped, but never killed.

The other gaping plot hole was the sister, Becky, magically finding Sandra out in the middle of nowhere. She even said near the end when Sandra complained that no one would ever find them - "I found you, so...." I expected her to go on to explain just how she had found her, but of course she didn't. So I went ahead and filled in the blank by assuming she had somehow waited around near the gas station and followed Carl there since she arrived at the cabin shortly after he had, but why she would do that not knowing he was going to the location of her sister, I don't know. I can only fill in the gaping plot holes up to a point, since I didn't write the thing to begin with.

Other than those 2 plot holes and the 2 goofs that I posted elsewhere here, the movie was pretty good with good acting all around and a unique, original plot.

7 out of 10 / Grade B-