Dark Forest, Slasher Seeks to Gut Damsels

A pure slasher film! The 1980s had a thousand of these. "The Burning," "The Prowler," and "Terror Train" graced our movie houses decades ago. As the 1990s arrived, slasher films were on their way out. Movie houses would not show them so some of the best efforts in that decade went straight to VHS. Then the new millennium arrived...VHS gave way to DVD. Still, with a little bit of effort, modern gems can be found and 2015's "Dark Forest" is one such gem. A psycho killer wielding an axe and a big knife, beautiful damsels, and some gory kills. This Canadian low-budget film sports some other qualities we may not have been looking for. The actors and actresses do a fine job and the characters grow on us so when they are destroyed...we actually are sad.

Two quartets head into the woods for some week-end camping. All great looking, of course. In one party are Sally (Alyssa Wyspianski), Kim (Genevieve DeGraves), Frank (Jesse Laing), and Henry (Graham SIlver). The second quartet will consist of Emily (Laurel McArthur), Michelle (Veronica Ternopolski), Francine (Jalen Desloges), and Jolene (Weronika Sokalska). Big problem, Emily has a very abusive and controlling husband, Peter (Dennis Scullard). Peter is driven into a frenzy after Emily joins her friends and heads to the woods. A homicide or two later, Peter pursues with dissection as his plan.

What follows is much carnage, gore, and death. Peter, in very gory fashion offs two lovers (Stefanie Austin and Corey Malone) parked near the woods. A knife in the head and a throat cut later, Peter reaches the campsite of Sally and her buddies. This is heartbreaking. Kim and Frankie emerged as a very cute couple and what Peter does to them...well...very sad. Henry and Sally will incur Peter's wrath next. Henry is kind of a jerk but Sally is quite a babe so when she goes, we're not happy. This was mere practice for Peter, as his real prey is his wife Emily.  Peter's goal isn't just to gut Emily but also rip apart her buddies who took her camping. This won't be overly easy for our psycho as these girls have attitude and Emily...well, she might be more than a mere damsel in much distress.

What torture and gore does Peter have in store for Emily and her pals? What has made Peter into such a maniacal killer? What dark occurrence in Emily's past has equipped her to take the fight to Peter? There will be gratuitous axe and knife carnage! There will be gratuitous bikini scenes! There will be a blood soaked final scene! For a low-budget slasher film that is well made with fine acting, enjoy "Dark Forest" (directed by Roger Boyer).