Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Josh Randall, Brianna Brown, Nick Searcy, Beth Broderick, Sascha Rosemann, TW Leshner,
Branden Morgan, Ryan McGee, Carl Bressler, Debbie Jaffe, Suzanna Urszuly | Written by Daniel Kay
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 100 minutes | Directed by Tony Giglio
Another entry in the growing "torture porn / survivalist horror" sub-genre. Yep, think Texas Chainsaw, Hostel, Wrong Turn, The Hills Have Eyes, Storm Warning etc. But the twist with this one is that it's pretty well done — almost to the very end.
First the beginning, and we meet our heroes Mike (Randall) and Sheryl (Brown) as they arrive for a weekend's hiking in the mountains of West Virginia (although in this case West Virginia was busy, so Romania is standing in). As they set off, they meet a woman who dvises them to take the Timber Falls path, because it has the prettiest scenery. So they do, which makes it a wrong turn in more ways than one. They soon encounter three rednecked "good old boys" — all carrying shotguns, apparently out hunting. Macho posturing and threats follow (the hicks have got a hankering to rape the "purty gurl") but the couple manage to get away without any Deliverance-style moments. As they'll learn a little later, they were three of the nicer locals that they will encounter.
Long story short, Mike and Sheryl end up in the clutches of the seemingly friendly park ranger Clyde (Searcy) and his wife, Ida (Broderick). This fiercely religious, god-fearing couple desperately want a child, but Ida can't carry a baby to term (jars of foetuses line the shelf in the cellar where Mike and Sheryl are held prisoner). After a quick shotgun wedding, our heroes are told that they will conceive a child to give to Clyde and Ida. And they are tortured to force them to comply..
Timber Falls is a pretty enjoyable romp (if this is the sort of film that you enjoy, of course). The acting is good all round — many of the cast have come from TV (Randall) or have had minor roles in box office biggies (Brown), so the faces are all slightly familiar. Production values, too, are reasonably high for this style of film — although there a couple of places where the editing is shoddy (or are they just bad snips from the censors?) And as subject matter goes, sticking the knife into religious fanaticism is always good for a chuckle, especially where this viewer is concerned. One of the main faults, though, is the lack of scares. Recent Spanish horror films The Orphanage and [Rec] both had those jump-out-of-your-seat moments. As well made as it is, Timber Falls just lacks the jolts. For the most part, it's all been done before, but it still manages to entertain for almost all of its 100-minute running time. What ultimately lets it down is the very final shot — I can't remember the last time I saw a more ridiculous ending to a horror film.
EXTRAS Nope, not a cracker.