Three guys and three gals in their mid-20s go out to a cabin for a college reunion, but a masked slayer is mysteriously lurking in the area. Will anyone make it out alive?
"Lurking Woods" (2015) is a conventional slasher, which the viewer is tipped off to at the outset by the shot of an arm wielding a knife in the air, reminiscent of the infamous "Psycho" shower scene. Of course this is a slasher of the cabin-in-the-woods variety and an Indie at that (costing about $270,000 in USD). Some scenes probably could've been tightened up, but the movie worked for me as an all-around entertaining slasher with a gorgeous rural setting, proficient Indie filmmaking, a quality score, a couple of rockin' songs on the soundtrack, an interesting reveal at the end and a decent no-name cast.
Speaking of which, the creators knocked it out of the ballpark with the female cast, featuring blonde Dominique Shenton (Arleen), Chloe Brown (Alice) and Hope Devaney (Andrea). Redhead Cassee Lazic is also worth a mention in a cameo as Amy. The director has a good eye for depicting feminine beauty without getting raunchy (although the final girl does have a brief top nude scene).
At the end of the day, "Lurking Woods" doesn't try to do something new, it's just effective at what it is, a low-budget standard slasher. The contemporaneous "The Lake on Clinton Road" and "Crazy Lake" are good American examples. If you liked those, this is as good or better.
It runs 1 hour, 17 minutes, and was shot in Toodyah, which is an hour-drive northeast of Perth.
GRADE: B.
