Agnes Bruckner, Bruce Campbell, Colleen Williams

A psychological horror story that begins when a neglected teenager, named Heather, is dropped off by her parents at a remote all-girls boarding school deep in the forest. Watched over by sinister head...( read more  read more... )mistress Ms. Traverse and her staff, Heather is tormented by her classmates and is desperate to go home. But when students start disappearing and she begins to have horrifying visions, Heather realizes that things at school are not quite what they seem. She only knows there's something out there in the woods -- and it won't be letting her leave anytime soon.

Flixster Users

41% liked it

22,238 ratings

Critics

67% liked it

12 critics

R, 1 hr. 32 min.

Directed by: Lucky McKee

Release Date: September 26, 2006

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DVD Release Date: October 3, 2006

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Flixster Reviews (718)


  • January 18, 2009
    I wanted to like this one but couldn't lower my I.Q. far enough to find any of this original or interesting.
  • July 22, 2008
    Pretty standard stuff in this one. The Woods isn't terrible, but it offers absolutely nothing new, either. Worth watching if you're a big Bruce Campbell fan, I suppose.
  • July 20, 2008
    The year is 1965 as we open in a car filled with tension: Prissy Mom and mute Dad have had enough with young Heather. The unhappy teenager has a small problem with pyromania, and so she's being shipped off to an isolated girls' school that's jammed in the middle of a foreboding f...( read more)orest. Obviously Heather is not happy about the situation, what with the creepy headmistress (Patricia Clarkson) and the dozens of unfriendly young faces. After reluctantly settling in at the school, Heather realizes she has a lot more to worry about besides homesickness and unpopularity. This is a school that has a nasty tendency of "misplacing" its more troublesome students. The cast is uniformly excellent throughout; Agnes Bruckner delivers a quietly commanding lead performance while Patricia Clarkson sinks her teeth into a witchy role and is clearly having some good fun while doing so. Emma Campbell provides a chilly turn as Heather's unfeeling mama, and genre demigod Bruce Campbell adds his own patented brand of color to the proceedings. Young actresses Lauren Birkell, Rachel Nichols, and Ivana Shein contribute exceedingly fine support work. The shocking thing is how well the film works despite these weaknesses. The Woods plays like an old fashioned chiller that borrows elements from recent Asian schoolgirl horror films while leaning on mythology from old Dario Argento films. The result is a movie that doesn't live up to either Memento Mori's or Suspiria's standards, but successfully places itself within the cinematic traditions of both. One might be even able to compare it to The Craft, however The Woods is a smarter more intelligence film.
  • November 20, 2007
    This is now the best horror movie that I've seen not just this year but for many years. I don't understand why this turned out to be a straight to DVD release as it's certainly good enough for a theatrical distribution.
    I can't find enough good things to say about this at all. N...( read more)ot only does it do for witches what "Ginger Snaps" did for werewolves but everything is perfectly executed from the 1960s period setting to the outstanding acting by everyone involved.
    The director, Lucky McKee, was also responsible for the more lacklustre "May" but don't hold that against him. This time he really got everything right. Again, he has used a very strong lead, Agnes Bruckner, and she will definitely enchant you (pun intended) throughout.
    It has a sufficiently spooky atmosphere, great characterisation, a good storyline and excellent gore scenes at the end.
    Don't believe anyone who writes bullshit comments about this being "derivative" and "unoriginal". Yes, it does have similarilties to "Carrie", "The Initiation of Sarah" and a great many others but it does it all so much better and mixes the elements in a far more entertaining way. You'll be drawn in so much by it that you won't even notice the "clichés" that the nitpickers like to point out.
    The plot is indeed also similar to "Suspiria" but only in the way that "Suspiria" is the same as "Rosemary's Baby", i.e. they both have a coven of witches involved. But whereas "Suspiria" is an unwatchable boring crapfest, this is a much smoother affair and much more enjoyable in every way.
    Even the music is good!
  • August 18, 2007
    A girl uncovers an evil coven at her boarding school in this atmospheric and horrifying film, which reminded me of "Suspiria" in ways.
  • November 10, 2009
    10-11-09
    "Every high school has its secrets... "
  • October 25, 2009
    A nice little tale of witchcraft at a girls boarding school, which is always par for the course with these type of schools, now isn't it? Why would you ever send your teenage daughter to a boarding school? It never plays out well.

    The one really silly bit is that the forest is ...( read more)encroaching into the building, with vines and leaves poking in from the corners of most rooms and no one ever asks "Hey, why's there an ivy hanging in from the window sill?"

    Worth a look.
  • October 19, 2009
    a little confusing and mismatching, but it's different.
  • October 5, 2009
    I like the whole secret coven at a boarding school thing, but it was pretty standard to me. This could've been interesting, but it needed a little more oomph.
  • October 4, 2009
    It was scary? my god not at all it was annoying seeing the school everytime and balancing the stones always... it was a useless tag line i donno whether it happened still but at the ending of the film they show up the sentences as its still mysterious as if the woods never catch ...( read more)fires... But it was an annoying film i can feel it there was no scary in this movie as the camera didn't show any scary characters it utterly waste of time as if u watch this film all along... Its totally a witches packed idea is always useless... The music too not made me afraid its not a good one...

Critic Reviews


October 19, 2006
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

One of the most polished and inventive horror flicks of the still-ongoing year, a synthesis of classical supernatural and sexualized imagery that expands upon, rather than simply regurgitates, its cel... full review

View more The Woods reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • drblood
    October 14, 2007
    The best atmosphere of any horror film for years. It would make a good double feature with "Lady in White" if you like horror movies with a lot of nostalgia.
  • cottencandy66
    September 13, 2006
    i love this movie it was good

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The Woods Trivia


  • Which Akira Kurosawa classic is literally translated to English as "In The Woods"?   Answer »
  • Which movie featured a 19th century village living in mortal fear of creatures that lived in the woods near where they were settled?  Answer »
  • Never go into the woods. Joaquin Phoenix leaves his isolated village to fight his fears in the forest.  Answer »
  • In which movie did Macaulay Culkin star as Elijah Woods sinister cousin?  Answer »

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