The Woods

  Lucky McKee's follow up to May is an interesting one. It's a supernatural horror period piece set in the 60s, heavily indebted to Suspiria. Light on plotting, heavy on atmosphere and characterization.

 After burning a tree in her backyard, Heather (Agnes Bruckner) gets sent away by her parents to a girl's boarding school in the middle of some ancient woods. After applying a written test, the headmistress (Patricia Clarkson, giving off some amazingly on-point "we're not angry, we're disappointed" vibes)  decides that Heather is eligible for a scholarship and accepts her into the school. It's worth noting that Heather cuts her finger on the test papers, effectively signing them in blood.

 Things don't go well at first. Heather is accosted by a cadre of mean girls (led by Rachel Nichols), gets into trouble with the staff, has some horrifying nightmares about a girl that went missing from the dorm, and an attempt to escape into The Woods leads to all sorts of creepy hallucinations. A real shit-show, in other words.

 But things do settle down a little bit after she makes a friend (Lauren Birkell). It's funny how good company can change things for the better: She's still hearing voices, and things at school get more worrying by the minute, but having Marcie at her side anchors Heather, lets her calm down and even enjoy herself a little.

 This being a horror film, it doesn't last. As the weirdness piles up, the voices from The Woods ring clearer, students go missing, and the vegetation starts to spread into the institution, it becomes apparent that Heather is being groomed for... something. Cue ominous laughter.
 The mystery at the heart of the story, one that seemingly involves an ancient coven of witches, isn't very complicated and is revealed organically as the script unspools. Heather is a good character, but, unusually (and, to be honest, probably realistically,) she focuses more on her relationships and immediate concerns than on the creepy designs coalescing around her. With regards to the actual plot, she's a strangely passive player, being handed most of the exposition instead of going through the normal investigation beats that you get in horror movies. The same goes for most of the plot points: Other people tend to drive the action, not the protagonist. In a movie that's very much about the perils of conformity, and with Heather kicking ass in so many other respects, it rings a bum note.

 The finale is appropriately spectacular, although it heavily features some pretty cheesy looking 2004 CGI. And because the rest of the film had so effectively established the threat as almost insurmountable, I didn't really find the climactic confrontation convincing. It's a great setpiece that felt a little off.

 So, it's got issues, some of them definitely not minor, but the rest of the film is so good it more than makes up for it. The script (by David Ross) explains just enough to leave things nice and mysterious. More importantly, it gives us enough time to get to know everyone before things get too hectic. And it's worth doing so: This is a good batch of characters, a few of which get a moment to reveal some vulnerability or hidden depths. The dialog is excellent, and complemented by some great acting and production design (By Dan Leigh), it really shines.

 Lucky McKee has shown several times over he's a great director, and this is, well, more proof of that. Expect flowing camera work and many neat dissolves, scene transitions and montages. Not to mention the usual empathy he shows his characters. There's a lot of subtle detail, like the way the school seems to change over the course of the story, or how colours dull as Heather conforms to strictures. Cinematographer John Leonetti does some great work here.

 It's an interesting, engaging film. Maybe the genre elements don't come together as best they could -  this is not a particularly scary film, despite having the bones of one, plus a helping of axe murder. It's a decent mystery, though, well worth watching to see its cast navigate the hazards placed in their way; Good company and all that.