MISSING IN GREENWOOD * Ireland / Thailand 2017 Dir: Stephen Patrick Kenny. 80 mins
A found-footage horror-comedy from the director of THE PIGMAN MURDERS, set in the remote eponymous forest where missing persons are in abundance and a trio of blokes are having a beer-enhanced break.
They (naturally) film their experience, joke about encountering rapey rednecks and keep bumping into equally lost citizens – including an American tourist (we know he’s American because he has a Jack Daniels T-shirt). They meet an obligatory harbinger character, have arguments about maps, hear strange sounds and inevitably someone asks, “Why are you videoing?” Torpedoed by self-conscious performances, this showcases a regrettably obnoxious array of characters and descends into repetitive, tedious scenes of torch-lit panic. When attempts to create atmosphere fail, it resorts to cheap nudge-nudge humour, which culminates with a character asking out loud “What would you do if you were in a low budget horror film? Oh yeah…” before kicking the villain in the nuts. If you thought THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT needed more wanking jokes and discussions about needing to take a shit, this could be the stranded-in-the-woods movie for you.
Review by Steven West