Taking a hiking trip into the local woods, a group of friends looking to have a fun time camping and partying together slowly come to realize the stories involving an escaped mental patient are true when they're being hunted and killed by a masked killer and have to leave the area alive.
This one turned out to be a pretty decent indie slasher effort. Among the films' best efforts here is the films' simplistic, old-school approach that carries not only in the setup and storyline but also the technical approach. Offering the classic standard of the traumatized kill carrying on the spree of a legendary killer he encountered from his youth after escaping from a mental hospital, encountering a group of hikers off trying to have a good time in the woods and killing them one-by-one is a fantastic starting point to everything here. With this being a simple means of getting a group of people together in the woods and then hacked up makes for a great time with the ability to include numerous touches and homages that are lifted straight from numerous other genre efforts in a loving spirit. In addition, there's a lot of fun to be had here with the decent attempts at stalking to be had here. The opening flashback to the couple getting knocked off in the forest in front of their kid is a highly intriguing setup to be had here with the resulting trauma spawning the rampage as a whole. The scenes of the escaped killer scouring the woods and coming across the killer's outfit while the group hikes into the area unaware make for some creepy moments, and the emergence of the other pair of girls into the mix to add some extra bodies is a great touch as the whole event being spied upon through the killers' POV adds to the chills. The main massacre is limited to basically brief ambushes with a shocking payoff requiring some solid gore and a decent attempt at suspense once the group is aware they're being picked off and must try to get to safety, all of which hold this up for the most part. There are a few minor drawbacks on display with this one. The main detriment on display is the films' somewhat obvious padding and extended montage sequences that are designed to drive up the running time rather easily. There are several montages where the group going out in the middle of the bar talking about their history together, the need for the drive up to the hiking site, and all the multiple times driving out in the car which all makes for a rather obvious time spent running up the length here with the need for several breaks back to the car coming off especially pointless. That also includes the hiking scenes into the woods where the droning of the insects and clanking of their packed items is all this has going for several minutes. That ends up highlighting the other drawback where the film takes way too long to get going before the killer strikes and starts knocking everyone off. While there's a lot to like with the setup, it's still quite obvious that the main killing doesn't start until the film's nearly over with the setup overwhelmingly featuring the group wandering through the forest and coming across the new girls who are only pushing the massacre back even further getting to know them and their background. It's not a detrimental factor so much as a noticeable one, much like the obvious budgetary limitations including the day-for-night shots, impossibly-too-dark night scenes, and limiting gore effects which are easy spotlights for this kind of thing as they all bring the film down just slightly.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language, Brief Nudity, and mild drug use.
