Wilderness

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Wilderness

August 19th 2010 01:06

British juvenile delinquent bullies push things too far and as a result a young prisoner commits suicide. The ward of seven boys is subsequently sent off in an officer’s custody to a nearby, supposedly, uninhabited island for intense character building. On the island they are hunted by an unseen killer armed with a powerful crossbow and a pack of ferocious, man-eating Alsatians. Who will be left and what will be left of them?

Written for the screen by Dario Poloni, who has penned Christopher (Creep, Severance, Triangle) Smith’s new period nightmare Black Death (2010) and directed by Michael J. Bassett, Wilderness (2006) offers nothing new in terms of plot and character, in fact it’s more obvious as an amalgam of Lord of the Flies (1965), Deliverance (1972), Scum (1979), and Southern Comfort (1981). Its strengths lie in the decent performances, the brisk pacing, and the execution of violence. However this is a tough, demanding picture because there are few characters that aren’t obnoxious or arrogant or both.

Jed (Sean Pertwee) leads his ward into the woods

“It’s not about revenge, it’s about punishment,” reads the movie’s tagline. It soon becomes clear the camouflaged killer is not some random psycho on the loose, but someone dead-set on exacting justice, with no qualms about collateral damage. Having established the young male offenders as generally unlikable it makes their individual offing not especially dramatic; however it does provide a level of danger running parallel to the crossbow-wielding killer. A few of these lads are capable of extreme violence themselves.

Callum (Toby Kebbell) and Louise (Alex Reid) on the run

Dog's breakfast

The always watchable Sean Pertwee plays Jed, the institution officer in charge of the group. He’s a little jaded and fed-up, none-too-happy he’s been saddled with coordinating the enforced boot camp. He has to keep a watch over Steve (Stephen Wight), Lewis (Luke Neal), Lindsay (Ben McKay), Blue (Adam Deacon), Jethro (Richie Campbell), and new arrival Callum (Toby Kebbell). On the island the unit unexpectedly encounters two female young offenders and their watch; Louise (Alex Reid, a brunette in The Descent), with Mandy (Lenora Crichlow) and Jo (Karly Greene). Louise and Jed aruge over whose right it is to be on the island, while the boys and girls size each other up and down. The next day all hell breaks loose.

Steve (Stephen Wight) walks away from his own murderous doings

Lenora Crichlow as Mandy

Director Bassett works his derivative material well, utilising the locale to its best cinematic advantages. His young cast is hungry for action and the chemistry, well magnetic poles to be more precise, repel with visceral dynamics. Wilderness might not be the sharpest knife on the block, but it’s got blunt force and some decent jagged edges that provide ample nightmare damage. Stand-out performances belong to Stephen Wight as the skinhead thug, and a volatile psychotic piece of work he is, and Toby Kebbell, of course, who made such an impression as the simple-minded brother in Shane Meadows’ brilliant Dead Man’s Shoes (2004), and later shot to prominence in Guy Ritchie’s hugely enjoyable gangster romp RocknRolla. I also found myself distracted by gorgeous, dusky Lenora Crichlow, who currently stars as a ghost in the supernatural soft-core horror television show Being Human. But I digress …

Callum channels his inner savage

Wilderness is worth hunting out, if only for Toby Kebbell, Stephen Wight, and Lenora Crichlow, oh, and Sean Pertwee and Alex Reid (but they don’t get an awful lot of screen time). And not to forget the gore set-pieces which includes a particularly savage canine mauling, and a wince-inducing leg severing and head-piercing via man-trap. Great stuff!

Here’s the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

5 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by David O'Connell

August 19th 2010 06:34

Screen Fanatic

Not familiar with any of the names other than Pertwee, more so with their work. I'll trust your word on this one mate, has it just been released on DVD here? I like the sound of it in terms of the various influences you mention that it seems to draw on for inspiration.