Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Anthony Pittore III (Shattered_Wake) A group of actors heads 'deep in the woods' to put on a play (of Little Red Riding Hood) for a mysterious rich man at his estate to celebrate the birthday of the rich man's grandson, who was traumatised after witnessing his mother's death. The actors hear a police bulletin stating that a serial killer (who dresses like a wolf, coincidentally) has been raping and killing women in the area of the estate and, even after a few more murders, the group decides the safest thing to do is stay in the castle. . . was it the smart move? Or did they deliver themselves right into the killer's hands? Despite the fake reviews posted all over the place about this film (one of which compared Delpanque's vision to Argento's), I tried to go in with a totally open mind, without any real expectations. While Delpanque certainly is a talented director, he can't match Argento's visuals (which is the only thing I find remarkable about Argento's work). The film itself, however, leaves a lot to be desired. While it is visually splendid and the acting isn't too bad, the script is stale, even with a good and interesting 'fairy tale'-type story. The deaths were good enough, and the killer's Wolf costume was actually pretty creepy. But, the killer. . . well, it's strange: The 'twist' of the killer is so ridiculously obvious, I actually found myself questioning whether I was just caught in a huge red herring, so I got to the point where I started guessing at the others thinking the script couldn't be that boringly unsurprising. But, the film seemed to take itself too seriously and that's usually a pretty damaging blow to a mediocre film like this.

Claudio Carvalho A group of artists, composed of the young actors Wilfried (Vincent Lecoer) and Matthieu (Clément Sibony) and the actresses Sophie (Clotilde Courau), Mathilde (Maud Buquet) and the dumb Jeanne (Alexia Stresi), is hired by a millionaire, Axel de Fersen (François Bérleand), to present a performance of Little Red Riding Hood in his isolated castle to celebrate the birthday of his grandson. Meanwhile, the police advises that a serial killer is raping and killing young women in the woods around that area. During the night, the group feels trapped and threatened in the castle, guessing who is and where might be the killer. "Deep in the Woods" is a very weird French B-Movie. The characters are badly constructed, the troupe of actors and actresses are very stupid, the locals are very bizarre, the story has many clichés and flaws, the screenplay is a complete mess and the acting of a great part of the cast is ridiculous. The photography is good, and probably this is the best this movie can offer. For Brazilians, I would like to present one additional remark: last year, the distributor Play Arte released the DVD "Wrong Turn" with the title "Pânico na Floresta" (which means "Panic in the Forest"). Now, the distributor "Europa Filmes" has just released "Deep in the Woods" with the same title in Portuguese ("Pânico na Floresta"). Therefore, the reader can imagine the confusion for a common Brazilian users, when he or she goes to a rental or to a store and gets the wrong DVD. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Pânico na Floresta" ("Panic in the Forest")

gridoon The director of "Deep in the Woods" shows a strong sense of visual style (there is, for example, a point-of-view shot from inside a bag!), but it's all for naught. This movie is a real mess; people appear out of nowhere and disappear into nowhere, and the main characters are a little too dumb, even for typical horror-movie "heroes". Give this director a decent script, and we might actually be onto something. As a side note, the stage play these kids set up is terrible enough to turn anyone into a killer. (**)

BillyBC (*1/2 out of *****) This goes to show that even the French put out some serious garbage in the world of film from time to time. This one, for example, is horrid. The interesting (albeit derivative) premise, the spooky setting, and the cinematography are all quite good, but, unfortunately, the whole thing falls apart real fast under its own incomprehensible pretensions.A group of attractive, young actors travel to an old mansion way out in the country to perform for an eccentric millionaire and his weird, mute son. The woods surrounding the mansion just happen to be the hunting ground for a serial rapist/killer who targets young girls. But, forget all about that, because, as soon as the good-looking group gets to the old guy's house, odd characters start popping up and bizarre things start happening -- you know, the usual David Lynch/Dario Argento kind of stuff -- except Delphlanque doesn't have an ounce of the artistic mastery or the subtlety to pull any of it off. Character motivations, most of the plotting, the dialogue (some of which, granted, could be the fault of American dubbing) -- is some of the worst I've ever encountered in a movie like this. In one scene, for example, everyone is sound asleep except for the main female star (Clotilde Courau), who is wandering through the mansion by herself. So, she enters one room and suddenly finds all of her friends dancing real slow and suggestively with each other, including her girlfriend. The scene ends and everyone acts regularly, as if nothing happened -- suddenly, they're all just wide awake and dancing to loud music! Okay, whatever, sure! And then, in the next scene -- after being warned by a (typically weird) police detective (who just happens to walk into the room) that a killer is on the loose -- they're all suddenly outside and walking around through the woods after midnight!The story tries to follow the trace of a murder mystery, but it takes way too many irritating turns into contrived Lynchian territory (in an early scene, the young boy stabs his own hand with a fork at the dinner table, and, after the father explains that he always does that, the guests are like, `Hm, well, how 'bout that -- so, when do you think we're gonna get paid?' and stuff like that.)There are some gory murders and a couple steamy sex scenes, but there are also loooong scenes of characters walking up and down stairs and through dark rooms. And, I swear to God, everyone pauses for about 30 seconds before responding to each other in this maddening mess -- I guess that helps stretch what could have been a 45-minute movie into an hour and a half. Do not be fooled by anyone who tries telling you that this movie is as good as (or, God forbid, better than) a typical Argento flick, because it is not. In spite of its professional camera work and some hints of creativity here and there in the direction, this turkey is no better than any early-'80s, American slasher flick.Lowlight: In a painfully forced attempt to misdirect our suspicions as to who the killer is, one of the actors tries to shoot Courau with a nail gun, but she somehow easily blocks it with a pipe or something, and, in the very next scene, the two of them are outside together, trying to start the car as if nothing happened. There are so many idiotic scenes like this that it just made me sick. I admit it -- I took the damn cassette out of the VCR! I didn't care how it ended! I couldn't take it anymore!