Was drawn into seeing 'Redwood' with a cool poster/cover, a very intriguing and creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for the genre as said many times. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.
'Redwood' is a film it doesn't do enough with its potential (although there are far bigger wastes of potential in film) and could have been much better. 'Redwood' is very weak with a lot of big problems. It certainly could have been far worse, considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre at best and terrible at worst.
Lets start with the positives. The setting is atmospheric and spooky and 'Redwood' could have looked far worse visually, was expecting a cheap looking film and to me that wasn't the case here.
'Redwood' has some creepy moments early on.
Albeit, there is nothing new here, the film doing nothing fresh with something creative in concept. The second half also takes itself far too seriously and gets incredibly idiotic, a very completely different film feel here. Far too much is revealed too early too, with the opening sequence giving almost everything away that it kills the suspense. The creepiness dissipates completely fairly early on, with the horror, suspense and tension being nowhere near enough. Things start not making much sense and gets silly, with one of the most ludicrous and easily foreseeable endings ever. The acting is not amateurish from the leads but is weak from the supporting cast and laughable for the cheaply rendered and far from threatening vampires.
Further issues are that it was clear that it was written in haste. There is a very rushed and careless feel to the story, especially in the second half where confusion and choppiness can be found in editing and narrative, and the underdeveloped and scrappy script with far too much talk likewise.
Then there is some padding and aimlessness that also gives the film a dragging sensation. The characters are flimsily developed, annoying and bland, the direction lacks focus and the music and sound editing are far too intrusive and obvious. Nicholas Brendan's role and inclusion were pointless.
Overall, weak with not much going for it. 3/10 Bethany Cox
