Don't Go in the Woods

Plot synopsis:
As something kills a hysterical woman, and a bird watcher, four friends (Peter, Joanne, Ingrid and Craig) trek through the wilderness. A tourist is thrown over a waterfall (landing near some oblivious frolickers) and his mother is wounded, and dragged away. The four backpackers set up camp for the night, and elsewhere a pair of honeymooners are attacked in their van and murdered. The next day, the two couples continue their hike, while an artist is stabbed to death, and her young daughter is taken.
Two more campers are butchered, and while off on his own, Peter witnesses a fisherman also murdered by the killer, who turns out to be a spear-wielding wild man adorned in furs and rags. Peter rushes off to warn his friends, but the maniac gets to them first, spearing Craig and sending Joanne fleeing into the woods. Peter finds Ingrid and after the two stumble upon the wild man's cabin, they accidentally attack another hiker, thinking he is the savage. The killer finishes off the hiker and wounds Ingrid, but she and Peter escape and eventually reach civilization where they alert the authorities.
Irrational due to guilt over leaving Joanne behind, Peter escapes from the hospital he and Ingrid are brought to and returns to the woods. Joanne finds a campsite containing a dead body, then a cabin where the killer hacks her to death with a machete. A posse (which includes Ingrid) is formed to hunt the maniac and look for Peter and Joanne. The sheriff finds the cabin, where he uncovers Joanne's body, leaving Peter even more distraught.
By nightfall the wild man claims another victim (a man in a wheelchair who is decapitated). Ingrid steals a machete and goes off to look for Peter who she finds by morning, along with the savage who they stab to death in a frenzy, only stopping when the search party arrives. As everyone clears out of the forest, the baby that was taken from the artist is shown alone in the wilderness playing with a hatchet.

Tags: dark, cruelty, murder, cult, violence, flashback, revenge, sadist

Review:
This is definitely another one of those 'So Bad they're good' contenders that I love so much I also think that an average mark of 2.2 out of 10 seems a bit harsh for this film I would give it at least a 3!!Basically this film consists of a 'Crazy Man' running around in the most densely populated 'middle of nowhere' that I have ever seen and killing people with a large Machete on a stickIt really is that SIMPLE.
As you may have read, a maniac is killing anonymous campers in the woods- hence the cautionary title of the movie.
It's the simple story of a group of happy campers (including a bunch of whiny teens, a birdwatcher who looks like an old silent movie actor, a cripple who looks like Franklin from THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, a female artist and her baby daughter, two bone-chillingly unattractive newlyweds and...you get the idea) whose weekend in the Utah wilderness is rudely interrupted by a bloodthirsty maniac who looks and sounds like Long John Silver gone native and kills people for kicks.
There's no real plot, not a scrap of characterization, no structure, no dynamic, in fact nothing to compel or even mildly interest the viewer, just endless scenes of these hapless non-actors wandering through the forest and getting killed in various unlikely ways, with blood-drenched murder scenes that resemble Monty Python's memorable spoof of Sam Peckinpah, only done on a smaller budget.
"Don't Go in the Woods" is often regarded as the worst slasher movie ever made.I can honestly say that I have seen worse slasher flicks like "Hollow Gate","The Last Slumber Party" or "The Newlydeads".A crazy killer stalks and kills tourists and campers in the woods.Anyway,this film is without a doubt beyond horrible.The acting is incredibly awful and both female leads are uglier than hell.The music is abysmal,the script makes no sense and the cinematography is really weak.The killer is just an old bearded guy who doesn't even have a motive or reason for killing campers.Fortunately this slasher flick is never boring and it contains many gory murders(for example a photographer guy gets his arm ripped off,a crippled guy is decapitated).So if you are a fan of trashy and mindless Z-grade slasher flicks give this one a look..
So what makes this movie worse than flicks like "Madman", "The Burning", "Prom Night", "The Prowler", and "Graduation Day"?For starters, "Don't Go in the Woods" has absolutely no originality to it.
There is simply no use of artistic film-making or creativity in this entire flick.Earlier in the week I finally was able to see another infamous B-movie slasher, "Graduation Day", which I thought was missing something.
"Don't Go in the Woods" has no rhythm, but seems more like a bunch of footage of random, annoying people we don't care about or like getting killed in uneventful ways.Watching this movie felt like it was taking hours, even though it was only 85 minutes.
For a horror fan, "Woods" is a sort of time capsule, a look back in time to when anyone could make a slasher movie as long as you had a camera.
For over twenty years, no one thought about "Woods", but the internet and DVD sales have helped bring it back.The cult horror film "Don't Go in the Woods" is only a popular movie because it is so bad and at one point so unpopular.
Regular genre fans will most probably get bored and turn it off, and if you don't like horror movies or bad b-movies than steer clear and don't enter "the Woods"..
I recently had the pleasure of seeing this 'video nasty' after so many years of it having been kept under lock and key by our beloved BBFC.Now, if there was a British Board of Film Quality I could understand the ban, as this is one of the most useless pieces of drivel I have ever seen.It's hard to know where to start; the acting is abhorrent, even by badfilm standards.
Obviously inspired by slasher classics like Friday the 13th, this low-budget slasher flick has a murderous mountain man hunting down a bevy of hikers and campers in the Utah woods and mountains.
Get used to cutting from this lot doing nothing to the killer offing various people we hardly get to know, because that's what most of the first half of the film involves, save for the footage of useless cops talking.What you've got here is a crazy mountain hillbilly (love that get-up!) running around what must be the busiest forest on earth cutting people to bits with a spear in various daft situations, like the guy he throws off a cliff (who lands next to our quartet, who don't even notice!), the ornithologist he dismembers, and some other poor guy who gets a bear trap to the face.
Hilarious, but probably not in the way the filmmakers intended.What was also funny was the bit where one of the quartet speared a guy by accident – I forgot about that bit.So, far from being the worst film ever (although it tries), Don't Go Into the WoodsAlone is a fine slice of cheesy entertainment that doesn't skimp on the blood.
So I bring it home and pop it in my VCR and after about 20 minutes of watching i realize since the film's acting, plot and worst of all the music are beyond belief there's nothing to do here but enjoy the gore.
It's hilarious watching this film(if you even want to call it that)set in the wilderness of Utah, where characters are slaughtered one after the other by a primitive killer.
One scene in particular i love is when the guy in the wheelchair is struggling to make his way up the steep trail, he finally makes it to the top only to have his head chopped off -I was laughing for days.
This movie isn't meant to be taken seriously, I mean how can you, the song played over the end credits(yes, you heard correctly)sounds like it came from a thirty-year old guy who still lives with his mom, and recorded it in her basement.
But when i finally got to see it II WAS SOOOO STUPID, the death scenes sucked, the plot sucked, bad acting, the killer sucked, and there is hardly any talking in the movie.
It's astonishing movies like that that really makes watching bad Horror films so worthwhile.
There is nothing here worth watching, as there is no plot, just a bunch of people in the mountains (not the woods) getting killed.
A very good 80s B slasher that proves you don't need a big budget to make a great film.Very suspenseful, creepy music/sound, Gory killing scenes and bad acting, which fits perfectly in this film.I Loved it!.
While the movie's admittedly inventive death scenes have accrued some measure of good will from forgiving horror fans over the years, there's no real reason to watch this at all..
With the sheriff and his posse nowhere in sight it's up to Peter and Ingrid to take the manic on single handed in his home turf or territory that lead to the incredible blood soaked final.For a movie with non actors and a bottom basement budget "Don't go in the Woods" really accomplishes, in scaring its audience, what it set out to do.
Whom he not only sliced up but in Cherry's case set the trailer in fire and rolled in down an embankment with her, after being sliced to pieces, in it and still alive and screaming hysterically!P.S Check popular Texas DJ Ken Cater as the more then 350 pound sheriff who despite his size and being in no shape to be hiking or slumbering through the woods is, in him sticking out like a sour thumb, totally overlooked by the manic who had no trouble at all taking out a number of far lighter and faster victims who unlike Carter were no real threat to him!.
An ultimately campy and derivative '80s "psycho in the woods" slasher movie, "Don't Go In The Woods" is probably one of the campiest, most horribly-acted B-horror movies that I've ever seen - but this film manages to be oddly amusing in all of it's badness.
I had been wanting to see this movie for quite some time because it sounded like it might be a decent '80s slasher film, and, after hearing so many bad comments about it, my expectations were low - but that was a good thing, because otherwise I would have absolutely despised this movie.
They're better doing things behind-the-scenes, because I have to admit, the performances were awful, and I think that's agreeable by anyone who's seen this film.Besides the horrible acting, there are some nice things that this low-budget camp film have to offer.
Stupid story, bad bad acting, must have been filmed on a sony handicam, and things that just don't link together (the weird person in the wheelchair who they show like 3 times in the movie and never explain it) I must admit though me and my friends were laughing the whole way through.
(Note the academy award nominated pause before the last no) in the most wooden way possible is worth the rental price alone and seeing characters with less than 5 minutes of developed screen time wander around the woods aimlessly in knee high socks and trendy tourist shorts, get hacked up with a machete should normally be a harrowing experience, however, it's really very funny and I didn't feel guilty afterwards for laughing so much.
Ask me if I can make fun of one movie all day long, and I'll say YES because I've seen a stinker called DON'T GO IN THE WOODS!
If you do manage to track this movie down, look for these key moments (this is just a taste of the smorgasbord awaiting you): 1) The Monty Python and the Holy Grail gore effect of the camera-toting tourist losing his arm 2)The guy who just wants his girlfriend to "gimme keys, gimme keys, gimme keys"  3) The ghost-story around the campfire, which ends with the haunting line "Do you smell something?" (bonus: count how many times the redhead asks "Huh?" in that scene)   4) The killer who gets so excited about killing he actually drools into his beard.
If Wrong Turn had been made two decades earlier, on a shoestring budget, with an unattractive cast and by a crew possessing almost zero talent, it would have looked a whole heap like Don't Go In The Woods.A drooling savage is butchering backpackers for no apparent reason, and seems to have been doing so for quite some time.
Only when a couple of exhausted and bloodied teens stumble from the wilderness babbling about a demented lunatic in the woods does a dimwitted sheriff notice that there is a problem in his county and gather some men together to catch the killer.Featuring truly awful direction, shockingly bad acting, absolutely no gratuitous nudity (probably a good thing, since this film is a babe-free zone), several miserable attempts at humour, and some dreadful migraine-inducing synthesizer music, Don't Go In The Woods is a mess of a movie.
However, the inclusion of plenty of cheesy gore prevents the film from being an entirely worthless viewing experience and fans of really bad horror might get a few laughs from its general ineptitude.So-bad, they're-almost-good moments include the beheading of a wheelchair bound sightseer, the killing of the world's ugliest couple (that woman was a whole lot scarier than the bearded mountain man), and the accidental skewering of a backpacker by the film's hero.To be fair, director James Bryan almost manages to capture a couple of effective chase scenes, but any tension he achieves is soon lost by either a spectacularly bad bit of acting from one of his talentless cast or an ill-timed comedic moment.Don't Go In The Woods, unbelievably one of the Video Nasties banned in the UK during the 80s, is one recommended to rabid slasher fans, lovers of truly awful low-budget B-movies, and masochists only..
But "Don't Go in the Woods" has NONE of this: the plot (if it even qualifies for the word) is just an unconvincing madman (who is like the Wolf Man meets Rambo) cutting people up who we couldn't care less about due to the woeful acting of the cast (all of whom had done nothing before and most went on to do nothing afterprobably best).
Some people like rubbish movies in a so-bad-it's-good waybut this was just a waste of my time.
Kingsley Thurher is fun in a slasher movie electronic score way, and a few of the clichés (like the guy warning the kids) are dumb fun.
Actually, come to think of it, these guys are nothing like Laurel and Hardy but one of them is enormously fat and the other is not.5 - Wheelchair Man : Oh deary me, how could we forget Wheelcair Man. I won't spoil things for first-time viewers but suffice to say, this poor guy doesn't have a good day.
hi I just got this movie at a flea market and I myself thought it was a little corny but I thought it was good I liked how the killer was not shown trough half of the film.
this film does have some funny moments I don't want to spoil the movie to much but this film does have some people think they know how to live in the wilderness and survive in any form of danger and a big shot with a gun.
This movie had deadpan acting (look for the part where the redhead yells "Noo!" as if she had just seen a cardboard cutout of the killer tossed at her and expected it), no storyline at ALL (a maniac roaming around, killing people for no reason, which may not be THAT bad), and a stupid looking killer (when he's being stabbed at the end, it looks as though his chest is made of brick, or is that CARDBOARD?).
The gore was supplemental, however, and I always recommend this movie for a laugh (in fact, I rented it again just to show my friend how bad it was!)  I was more afraid of the campy, Barney-sounding music was emanated from every scene!
As awful as it may be, "Don't Go in the Woods," does hold a special place for me, as it reminds of the golden age of slasher films where plot wasn't a priority and filmmakers could get away with making a film that is basically nothing but 80 minutes of various people getting slaughtered by a madman.This film is a prime example.
After barely escaping with his girlfriend one of the victims returns to the woods to find his missing friend and to get some payback on the nutcase who attacked them.Yet another low-budget attempt to rip-off "Friday the 13th" with extremely annoying shock sounds, jerky camera work, terrible acting, sloppy editing, and characters uttering brilliant phrases like "Come out you jerk you!".
But no luck in that department either, every character keeps their blouses buttoned, and the first Friday the 13th was bloodier, which cancels any gore hounds delight, because that got released on a stringent eighteen certificate!Don't go in the Woods is truly a work of utter incompetence that can only be rivalled by crap like Movie House Massacre in the shoddy film-making department.
Here is the kind of movie that gives horror films their bad name.
This might sound like fun to some, but most of the movie is boring footage of idiots stumbling around in the woods to a synthesizer score that's so irritating that it's only slightly better than the score for Fred Olen Ray's "Scalps" (which is four-star entertainment compared to this).
Don't Go in the Woods (1981) ** (out of 4) Various people don't listen to the title of this movie and venture out into the woods where they are brutally murdered by a weird mountain man.James Bryan was already a vet at filming a various of genres when he decided to get in on the slasher craze.
Everything that I hated about the film was still here but at the same time I must admit that I can't think of another slasher like this one.
One of the 74 video nasties banned in Britain, this film was released in 2007 uncut.One would have to question why it was banned in the first place, unless the film board just wanted to save viewers from a bad film.I really felt I should get a Merit Badge after having to listen to the lectures of surviving in the woods while waiting for something exciting to happen.The electronic music was irritating at times, but the scenery was sure beautiful.I bet that artist didn't plan to have so much red in her painting.
The Plot, just like any other typical slasher movie four friends go camping in the woods unaware that a wild man is killing various people in the same woods and is soon heading they're way.Everything about this film is amateurish.
The central focus of the young backpackers is to make it look like there is an actual plot to round it off, but really it's nothing more than watching people getting knocked off in the backwoods by some primitive killer.
If you enjoy glaring illogical actions (such as a sheriff wandering in the forest on his own in search of the killer) and incredibly bad special effects (body stabbings looking more like poking on woodblocks - I'm not joking!) , then Don't Go in the Woods is for you.
Without being killed and chopped up in little pieces."You should hear how this guy sings this, it's absolutely hilarious and well worth watching the film all the way through to the end credits alone.
The music at times is not always fitting although the track that is playing during the end credits of the movie is comical.I would rate this film 4 out of 10..
The character of the man in the wheelchair who just shows up pretty much at the end of the film made no sense, but still I somehow liked it.