The Retreat

Heading out for a bachelor party, a group of friends decides to take a special hiking trail in the local woods but when they get lost in the woods decide to try experimenting with drugs only to come upon a dangerous woodland-based entity that starts playing with their mind the longer they stay in the area.

For the most part, this is a pretty enjoyable outing. A lot of what works here is the strong setup that takes on the groups' stupidity to work properly. The idea of them going out at night on the darkened trail as part of their series of hikes makes complete sense as to how the group gets lost as easily as they do. The trick in doing it on the hike back is also played nicely as there are some fine chances for them to get back safely yet instead turns this nicely away from the expected into a far more satisfying psychological bent about being lost in the woods than an outright monster movie. The various timelines and story-points that emerge here play off a different kind of film in that it's seemingly more about the experience he undertakes and how it's manipulated by either the elements or the creatures' supernatural powers makes for a fine story here and manages to work out quite an effective effort. When this one gets going, though, it's all due to the fun psychological mind-games that result here. The harrowing first encounter alone in the woods manages to bring about a fantastic confrontation with the creature that's quite enjoyable with the overpowering nature of it who quickly and easily tosses him aside yet strangely backs off gives this a fantastic starting point for the later encounters. From the hallucinations of the beast stalking him through the woods to the unseen shots of it following him which are quite intriguing playing off the psychological nature of the storyline. Since everything is based around whether or not it's a hallucination or actually happening, this one manages to come across far more chilling here with the idea that it's not actually him out there to begin with. Offering up both scenarios as equally likely in that he's alone and being stalked by a supernatural creature or that there's nothing but the two of them who have fallen prey to the elements snapped makes for a chilling set up with just enough action to make for a fun time. There are some big issues within this one. The most egregious of this is the confusing storyline here that tends to make it quite difficult to figure out what's going on. Tending to revert through time quite easily by going back-and-forth through numerous storylines involving their camping trip gone wrong, the flashbacks to the psychiatrists' office and then to the meetings with the fiancee he's marrying causes some tonally whiplash keeping everything straight throughout here. It also doesn't help that this series of storylines cause the main creature to nearly disappear from the main part of the film since it doesn't tend to get a lot of screentime in the last third of the film. Most of these are taken up with keeping the storylines going or showing the guys out hiking in the woods rather than the creature so although it does have a few moments here-and-there it doesn't have as much as most would like. The other issue here is the utterly moronic decision that sets the movie in motion of the group going out in the woods alone at night as most of them state doing so is a bad idea is a clue enough that this one doesn't have any proper motivation for doing so. That all ends up holding this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.