Movie Review: Beyond the Woods (2018)

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Beyond the Woods is an Irish Drama/Suspense /Horror film by director Sean Breathnach, and it is his feature-length debut in both the writing and directing categories. It’s about seven friends who get together at a secluded vacation home to relax for a weekend, but there is a sinkhole nearby, which is emitting a strange sulfuric odor which keeps them indoors, and it may be more than just an old sinkhole. The sinkhole itself has been nicknamed “The Gates of Hell”, and perhaps for good reason. The film starts off with all of the characters showing up to the house, and after introductions, they all begin to let loose and do a bit of drinking. Some of them perhaps too loose. As the night progresses and they get tipsy, things start to get a bit weird in the house, and also out in the woods.

What we liked:
– For a lot of the cast having previous work on short films, the acting was fantastic in this.
– The scenes where the horror was prevalent and mirror special effects were great.
– It was an interesting concept you don’t see very often and was executed well.
– The production quality overall was excellent.

What we thought could have been better:
– More focus on the Sinkhole/Woods.
– There were more drama and suspense scenes than horror. The buildup took a bit long, and the horror was only peppered in until near the end instead of it being the focus.

Overall:
If you are looking for a good Suspense/Horror film, look no further. Even though the horror scenes were few and far between early on, when the horror is there it was done really well. The cast did a great job in their roles, and in a film where it’s mainly dialogue-driven (mostly all taking place in the house) it’s an important thing to get right, and they did. The story was good, and the only thing we thought could have been better was that it needed more emphasis on what was happening in the woods. It would have made this film much better. In conclusion, we would definitely recommend this to Suspense/Horror fans. It’s somewhat of a slow burn, but this was a quality debut of a feature film from Sean Breathnatch, and we hope to see more from him in the future. Beyond the Woods is now available in the U.S. on DVD and VOD as of 3/2/2018 through Amazon.

Find out more about the film, and follow them here: https://www.Twitter.com/LeftFilms https://www.Twitter.com/BeyondTheHorror #BeyondTheWoods https://www.beyondthewoodshorror.com