Wilderness Survival for Girls

2004 "Growing Up Can Be Deadly"
5.4| 1h18m| R| en
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Three girls take a pre-college trip to a cabin in the woods. Their night is interrupted by a visitor who, they begin to believe, may have killed a babysitter some years before. An original twist on the teens-in-peril film.

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Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.
Ensofter Overrated and overhyped
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
bob_meg Three college friends, Ruth, Deb, and Kate, recently graduated, set out for a long weekend at Kate's parents' remote cabin. They intend to do nothing but sunbathe, get stoned, and dish on boys until they stumble upon the loaded shotgun and dead fox stashed in their fridge.That's when they meet Ed (James Morrison), a disenfranchised mountain man who has been squatting in the usually vacant summer house for months.It's a great set-up, primarily because you never really know if Ed is a psycho or if he's just a poor homeless guy who's just angry that he's been busted by a trio of teens.It's also great because, compared to the girls, Ed seems almost well-adjusted. Ruth is a closeted lesbian with a crush on Deb, Deb is the under-achieving party girl resentful of Kate and Ruth's money and academic success, and Kate has serious man and confidence issues. Oh yeah, and there's also the fact that Deb was brutally assaulted by her stepfather years before. Then there's that almost urban legendy story of the babysitter and her boyfriend who were hacked to pieces by a deranged mountain man just miles from Kate's family's place....You get the idea. "Wilderness Survival For Girls" is chock full of rich character development, decent acting, and plenty of twists and turns (and plot angles to work them from). It's one of those movies where you won't find yourself looking at the clock once.Is it a nonstop suspense thrill ride, ala "High Tension" or "Them?" No. The thrills here are more psychological than anything. But it doesn't preclude them from being any less brutal and shocking.
saparke2 I have bought this movie twice-- the second time after I lent it to a friend and never got it back. Lucky for me the copies are cheap on Amazon.I watched this movie because it looks like every other slasher flick-- worse, a cheap indie slasher flick-- except that the reviews all over the box don't read like slasher reviews.This movie delivers on several fronts. First, it is an edge of your seat thriller and will keep you guessing. Second, it is an intimate portrayal of female friendship. I think most women will see a part of themselves in one of these girls, and all will recognize a close friend. Third, it is a mind-bending mystery. The continuity is very good. Fourth, it is a poignant social commentary, and raises very complex and relevant questions. This movie will certainly start a conversation about fear and gender if you let it. If you're looking for mindless entertainment, you're not going to get it. If you're looking for a movie about exceptional people, you're not going to get it-- the people in this movie are not cut out to be astronauts or fortune 500 executives. Each character is as fundamentally good as they are fundamentally evil.If you're a guy and you're wondering why you might enjoy this movie (since it does seem to mostly be about women), the male character in this movie is no less complex, interesting, and real than the teenage girls. I think it is a less common person who will sympathize with both the man and the teenagers in this movie. The humanity displayed in this movie is generally the kind of humanity that happens behind closed doors and is rarely ever expressed in words.Fantastic acting. Fantastic script. Breathtaking, on-location photography. Poignant societal commentary on a topic that, although it is less commercial than racism or the glass ceiling, is no less woven through the lives of everyone in western culture. This is a really great movie.
x_specter_x If you, like me, don't like movies where the characters make every stupid decision you can think of... this movie is not for you.The drama is built on the young girls extremely stupid and completely unrealistic decision.If you want to watch a great thriller about women in a cabin in the woods, watch the Descent. The acting in the movie is actually pretty good. The same for the dialog. It's just that all of their problems could have easily been avoided with just the slightest use of common sense. Instead of tense moments, they are frustrating.
Huffer8 Caught this one during a one-week run at a Denver theater. Although I initially was intrigued by a movie filmed in my home state, WSFG actually was an accomplished film for reasons other than its location. Three girlfriends head up to a family cabin for a post-high-school-pre-college getaway (a tradition many of us, including myself, participated in). As the three do some hiking, sunbathing (this part may give some older viewers an uncomfortable, dirty-old-man vibe), drinking and pot-smoking, divisions between the three characters are revealed, and gradually go from subtle to tense. Things really get complicated when the stoned girls begin to hear noises outside the cabin. Just when it looks like WSFG may be the kind of McSlasher that studios churn out every other week, the story gets deeper as the mysterious stranger in the woods is revealed to be a sad-sack middle-aged guy who has been squatting in the cabin. As the night progresses, the characters' motives are revealed, and may just surprise the viewer. WSFG sets itself apart from the aforementioned generic slashers because the filmmakers understand that, if properly handled, a tense dialogue can be more jarring than a nubile teenybopper running from a maniac. In this movie, characters are developed and real, as it is revealed that each of the girls has her own issue to confront, scary man in the woods or not. Distribution for WSFG is precarious. If you happen to get the chance, however it may come, to see this little picture, fans of suspense movies likely will be taken by this stronger-than-usual offering. P.S. I have no connection to the filmmakers, BTW. - JF