Il bosco fuori (2006) Reviews

• You like the red stuff?

  lost-in-limbo2008-10-11

  This Italian micro-budget horror production isn't that good, but nonetheless it's not too bad for a first shot at a feature length production, as writer / director Gabriele Albanesi has created three horror shorts before it. With a title like that you'll know where it's target audience lies, and for most part it delivers on it if you just go in expecting something rather amateurishly crazy and explosively bloody in what is an all to familiar get-up. You can see its style is raw, lurid and recalls shades of 70s / 80s drive-in grindhouse exploitation. It's a total throwback. Even with this element, still it's hard to find it disturbing. It's far from it actually, as it's over-the-top hysterics (especially involving three moronic douche bags) and macabre confusion can see it fall on being darkly humorous. A young couple, Aurora and Rino are trying to come to terms to where their relationship is at or what was, but they're interrupted by three loutish thugs that bash Rino and attempt to rape Aurora. However an older married couple driving pass saves them from that disastrous fate and takes them back to their place to recover. But unknowingly to them this couple has a secret which might put Aurora and Rino in a great deal of unexplainable trouble. The narrative is thoughtlessly thin and dank, but cluttered with so many disjointed plot structures (some that feel like a second thought as if made on the spot) which go onto to lead to an inevitable (and perplexing) explanation to all of this demented carnage. I'm at a lost?! You can easily spot the influences from other horror films though. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' shoots to mind. The unsubtle script was mostly horrendous. After a plodding beginning-- setting up Aurora and Rino's rocky relationship and their early encounters with the brain-dead thugs. The whole mystery surrounding the hospitable couple and their son is what holds you, until it throws you into the ugly, explicit violence and bewildering situation. Nothing suspenseful about it, but it's flipped out with it gushing with plenty of red stuff and gore skews into camp territory, but that final closing is shockingly weak and rushed. What was going against it is that there was no one to really cheer on (yep Aurora and Rino were less than desirable characters) as they weren't painted oh so greatly. Gabriele Albanesi's direction stays conventional with some neatly realized images and fast moving zooms, but it's considerably well shot. Even when it decides the shake the camera about a couple of times. The electronic score stays low-key with a sensitively harrowing vibe, striking back to those old features. The pacing moves quick enough and the limited resources are handled effectively (like the make-up and splatter effects).The performances are very indifferent and quite poor (thanks again to those three ridiculous thugs). Daniela Virgilio and Daniele Grassetti didn't make much of an imprint as Aurora and Rino. Gennaro Diana and Santa De Santis's stiltedly icy portrayals bordered on farcical as the mysterious couple. David Pietroni was just laudably hammy as the main front man of the trio. Unusually ragged, but slightly amusing and outrageous Italian horror.

• This is one where I definitely disagree with a number of the 'external' reviewers...

  lathe-of-heaven2012-01-23

  Usually, I depend heavily on the 'external reviews' here on IMDb; no disrespect for the other reviewers here like me of course, but I have my favourites who I rely on for my impressions of a film and whether I think I will like it. Well, as my title suggests, I VERY much disagree with some of my 'regulars', that is for sure! Both at DVD Verdict and Dread Central they praise this film as a great return to Italian Horror. I suppose... However, perhaps it's just a matter of 'taste' in this case (no pun intended - I guess you'll hafta actually see the film to get it) Sure, there is a LOT of old fashioned gore, etc. And that can be okay IF, and I do bloody well mean ***IF*** at least it is done well. But, sadly, in this case I am sorry, but it was not. Now maybe the level of competence is expected to be lower with this kind of movie, but still, there are TONS of great low-budget Horror films that may even be somewhat stupid, BUT there is a certain charm or retro feel to them or SOMETHING for Goodness sake that makes them worthwhile. Not this one... Primarily I just couldn't bleed'n STAND the monotonous and EXTREMELY super-extended padding in this thing. GEEZ, so he / she / whatever is running through the woods... Okay... I get it... Can we PLEASE not spend 20 frigg'n minutes watching them running and screaming, and running and screaming, and then running and screaming some more...???! PLEASE...! Literally about 20% of the dang film is made up of all these SUPER-extended reaction shots (hold on her face... Okay, now hold on his face. Okay, now go back to her face... GEEZ, just shoot me already, or hang me, I REALLY do not care at this point!) I GUESS, MAYBE, if it had just been tightened up a bit and moved along with SOME concept of pacing it probably would indeed have been a fun and enjoyable little Horror film. Man, as it was it came in at what, about 85 minutes WITH credits. I mean EVERY dang scene was dragged out, mostly with awful repetitive yelling and 'acting' I mean HOW MANY bloody times does one tough guy hafta tell his other friend to 'Shut up!' And also how many, MANY times does that same friend say 'Hey, we really should go back; we shouldn't do this, etc., etc., etc... It's just that when you add all this stuff up it ends up being HALF the damn film, really! Just a LOT, and I do mean a HELL of a lot of time wasted, totally destroying whatever possible suspense or interest that may have been generated . I WILL say though that there were a few things about this movie that I did like. First, I REALLY liked the opening song; I mean it sounded RIGHT out of TWIN PEAKS, honestly! So, I'm thinking 'Great! This is gonna be some subtle, moody, atmospheric film a la David Lynch. WRONG... BUT, I will say though that towards the very beginning there were indeed a few shots / scenes that did remind me of Lynch's use of long, quiet shots that gave it a nice, odd feel. And also, I really noticed a very deliberate effort to copy Argento's lighting in 'INFERNO' You see blues and reds EVERYWHERE! That looked kinda neat. But, all in all whatever slight patches of style or mood that MIGHT have been there, they were TOTALLY obliterated by completely inept narrative and pacing and WAAAAAAAAAY drawn out scenes. If he could have just edited all that completely useless crap out of there and maybe brought the film in at even 70 minutes, that might have done the trick. Now again, if this kind of film falls into the category sort of like Porn where you really aren't exactly watching it for the 'tight' direction (cough...) etc., well then, fine... Maybe this just isn't my kind of movie. But, at least as I imagine it being directed, I THINK that you really could have snipped out all the stupid stuff and just gotten to all the gore, etc., THEN you just might have had a much, MUCH more effective and emotionally striking film. Instead ALL the tension that is actually built up is completely wasted and drained away by about 20% of the footage that just shouldn't be there. YES, there is a definite and even somewhat effective homage to Argento and Classic Italian Horror in general; but, if you are gonna do that type of thing, PLEASE do not completely ruin it by making an awful film around it...

• This flick is a giant merda

  bigdarvick2008-11-26

  Nice artwork on the DVD box and that's about it. On the cover it says, "from the people who brought you the Grudge" etc etc, lot's of hype. From Ghost House pictures, a company that usually will deliver the scares, but not in this case. First 10 minutes of the film is shot too dark. Then there are numerous gaffes with the day for night type scenes. One scene it is dark, the next it's daylight. On par with an Ed Wood film. Horrible editing, shots of 3 guys driving in a little Fiat seen over and over with the driver never turning the wheel. Lingering close ups, fast zooms--both in and out, shaky hand held camera to the point of it looking like the cinematographer was having a seizure. Goofy, over the top acting, more suitable for an Italian soap opera. "Hey Enzo, we needa more blood, no?" I bought this movie used for 10 bucks and I might as well of just flushed it down the toilet. Here's some advice for Ghost House pictures: Please don't become another Full Moon. There are already enough low budget stinkers being put out by those guys. Have some credibility and actually watch the movie before you market it --and in the case of Last House in the Woods, your marketing was deceptive and I fell for it. You got me, but now I will research a Ghost House movie before I buy or rent one.

• Go straight past the last house on the left, turn right at the edge of the park, and it's the last house in the woods.

  BA_Harrison2009-10-14

  Prologue: the world's densest family are driving home when they blow a tyre and crash (no seat-belts; no airbags; very dumb); the father is dead, so the mother gets her injured son out of the car and tells him to run down the road with her (he could be suffering from spinal damage for all she knows; what an idiot!); when she spies a car approaching, the mother stands in the road and waves her arms, but fails to get out of the way when it passes (Splat! How thick?); the driver of the car pulls over, walks to the barely-still-alive mother, and bashes her head in with a rock (the son, who is cowering in the woods, shouts out; he's easily as stupid as his parents). After this unparallelled exercise in stupidity, we are introduced to a pair of lovers, Aurora (busty Daniela Virgilio) and Rino (Daniele Grassetti), who attempt to solve issues in their relationship by having car sex in the middle of nowhere. As they redress themselves, post intercourse, a trio of pill-popping thugs turn up, kick Rino to the ground and try to force Aurora to perform fellatio. Fortunately for her, the assault is interrupted when a couple in a passing car stop, and the driver, Antonio (Gennaro Diana) proceeds to send the thugs packing (with the help of his gun, of course). Grateful for his assistance, the shocked couple accompany Antonio to his house, but it turns out to be a case of 'out of the frying pan, and into the fire': Antonio and his wife Clara (Santa De Santis) are the proud parents of a group of deformed cannibals, and Aurora and Rino are destined to become dinner. It is clear from the derivative title alone that Last House In The Woods is intended to recreate the nasty, gritty vibe of 70s and 80s grind house horror, most notably the early work of Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and Italy's own Ruggero Deodato; unfortunately, director Gabriele Albanesi tends to stick a little too closely to his source material, and for much of the film, he offers very little new in terms of ideas. Inbred cannibals; vicious rapist thugs; chainsaw mayhem: it's all so familiar. Hell, even Gennaro Diana looks kinda like David Hess's younger brother. However, as Italian horror films seem to be in the habit of doing, the script eventually decides to launch logic out of the window and matters get very crazy, very gory, very quickly, transforming Last House In The Woods from a predictable Hills Have Eyes/Texas Chainsaw clone into a totally bonkers and magnificently vicious gore-fest. In fact, I had so much fun with the typically Italian insanity in the closing moments that I found I could easily forgive the movie's earlier weaknesses. Yucky treats that await those who are patient include limb amputation via chainsaw, bullets to the head, vicious stabbings, and a messy disembowelment (all courtesy of MUFX man Sergio Stivaletti); furthermore, Virgilio gets absolutely drenched in blood, a mutant cannibal has his huge boil burst during a fight (which results in a geyser of pus hitting a guy in the face), and there's even a quadriplegic kid for good measure. It's mad, it's messy, and it's fun, and that's good enough for me! 6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

• Some creepy thematics but otherwise not impressive.

  TdSmth52008-11-10

  A couple with child are driving on a road in the woods. The man loses control of the car, crashes into a tree and dies. As the mother tries to stop a car for help, she's run over. The driver stops, grabs a rock and smashers her to death. When he hears the hiding kid he goes after him. Later we meet a young but estranged couple as they drive to the woods. They stop for romance and are assaulted by some drugged gang members. He's beaten up, she stops a car for help. The man who helps her has a gun and makes the gangster run for their life. Also in the car is the man's wife. The young couple is taken to their estate in the woods. But something isn't right here. When she awakens, she's tied to a chair. Next to her is her ex also tied up but passed out. His lower leg is missing. In front of her, the dining table and a child munching on his leg! Eventually she escapes and ends up in an RV that belongs to some deformed retards. They take her captive and bring her back to the home in the woods. Our gangsters from earlier hear the noise and make it to house as well. Turns out the 2 retards and the kid who has shark-like teeth are all children of the couple that lives there. The kid has some need to devour flesh and the parents find the human meat when necessary. At this point all sorts of struggles take place between the crazy family and the gangsters who now have become good guys. The final scene is quite powerful, when we see a sort of shrine in the basement. At the center is the kid from the accident at the beginning of the movie. He is alive but his limbs have been removed. He and the monstrous kid meet presumably for the first time. This movie has an interesting premise but the production cannot make the best of it. Too many characters, none of which are particularly interesting or arouse sympathy. There's some gore here and there. Quite a bit of this movie is rather dull.