The Woods

[It] maintains a laconic, deadpan tone that's a nice break from the usual high-volume comedy. But it simply offers endless variations on the same joke.

It's all very "found footage," Impolex by way of Discovery's The Colony, only with a lot more in the way of familiar consumer products.

A send-up of a communal project made of vague goals and empty postures that is ultimately indistinguishable from its target.

Good plot and haunting ambiance, but mediocre story and weak characters RELEASED IN 2006 and directed by Lucky McKee, "The Woods" chronicles events in 1965 New England when a troubled teen (Agnes Bruckner) is dropped off at a spooky remote boarding school for girls by her estranged parents (Bruce Campbell & Emma Campbell). Weird, witchy things ensue. Patricia Clarkson plays the dean while Lauren Birkell and Rachel Nichols play fellow students, one nice and the other mean. This is a mystery/horror flick that combines “Suspiria” (1977) with elements of “Carrie” (1976) and “The Ruins” (2008) or “Man-Thing” (2005) (yes, I realize “The Ruins” came out later; I’m just trying to give people an idea of what the movie’s like). The haunting atmosphere and the Montreal location are very good, as well as the unsettling creepiness. So the plot is a winner, the film looks good and there’s an effective darkness, if that’s your thang. Unfortunately, the story is underwhelming. It’s too ambiguous and feels incomplete, like a half hour of events were cut from the runtime. The hints of levitation and telekinetic abilities don't amount to much, nor do the leaves on a bed. The characters are either underdeveloped or unlikable, except for maybe the protagonist (Bruckner). All we know about Heather is that she recently set fire to something and there’s enmity between her and her self-absorbed…