Sparrow

As this film opens four friends go camping in the woods and are picked off, one by one, by a machete wielding maniac. Sometime later another group of friends, three boys and three girls, head into the same woods. They set up camp and one of them tells of an urban legend about 'Ranger Sparrow' who killed his wife and her lover in those very woods and is, if the story is to be believed, still out there killing those who venture into the woods. Of course none of them take it seriously until strange things start happening... will any of them make it out alive?

Few people will find this anything but utterly predictable; the only questions are 'in what order will they die?' and 'will any survive?'. Given that the characters are somewhat irritating one isn't likely to care all that much. They are meant to be friends but don't behave like it; they constantly argue and seem to dislike each other. 'Ranger Sparrow' just appears out of nowhere and kills those who are separated from the group; usually stabbing them with his machete... machetes don't work that way they are hacking or slashing weapons! There was no real sense of location; it was filmed in Poland, the group drove a car with New York plates and the cast were English but at no point talked about where they were meant to be; the fact that I spent much of the film pondering this showed how little the main plot gripped me. Overall I'd not call this a must see, not by any stretch of the imagination; it is just about okay if you like the genre and aren't too fussy.