Two in-your-face female leads front director Alexander Hwang’s horror-gore-monster movie, but as far as feminist horror goes it’s no The Descent. It’s not even the lousy sequel Descent 2.
Muckraking articles of New York Times reporter Nora Thompson (Nicole Ciniglia) have exposed phony charity scams and other criminal enterprises perpetrated by a US congressman, who subsequently killed himself. Nora smugly awaits rounds of celebrity appearances and journalism awards (the filmmakers seem to have some sort of inarticulate grudge against the news media in general). She is instead visited by the dead man’s wrathful daughter Carolyn (Vienna Hayden). She does not mourn her despised father, but now she blames Nora for costing her the ill-gotten family fortune.
Carolyn takes hostage Nora into the woods for intended vengeance. But then a monster attacks—simple as that. And the two enemies (still arguing) must team up to survive the creature’s onslaught. A few dumb-looking male “deputies” prowling the wilderness also add to the body count.
There is no nudity or sex, for which the few interested buyers may be grateful, though bloodletting and profanity are plentiful. No character on screen exhibits any traits (including good acting) that would want one to remain in the same room for very long, though the computer-generated creature is rather impressively designed on its own terms.
The tipoff that the monster is all digital is how it can barely be shown physically interacting with the flesh-and-blood actors; the film falls back on severely unfocused perspective shots or clunky editing to persuade us this thing actually occupies analog space. Only ancillary details put across the notion (direct-to-video horror fans should recognize it right away) that this marauding thing is the “wendigo,” the American Indian spirit demon who personifies hunger—and, hence, cannibalism.
Perhaps the best wendigo-themed horror flick remains 1999’s Ravenous, with which Something in the Woods should not be confused (though its alternate title, Ravening Woods, suggests somebody may have wanted the confusion.) Not recommended for public libraries.