Arbor Demon (2016)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

If this were strictly a horror movie, it could be criticized for starting out very slow. We get lots of background info about the leads, a married couple consisting of a wife who is newly pregnant, and a rock-band husband who is dedicated to a life of footloose irresponsibility, and is opposed to the concept of settling down and raising a family. He does not know that his wife is pregnant, and she is understandably reluctant to tell him. She wants a family; he doesn't. She has mysterious and wonderful new life growing inside of her, and he wants to go on tour and play music and have fun, as he always has. It's not that he's a bad person: he just doesn't want to grow up and give up rock-and-roll NeverNeverLand.This couple goes into the woods and encounters a band of Lost Boys carousing, shooting off guns, drinking, whooping-and-hollering, riding noisy 4-wheeler off-road vehicles, and just being total jackasses and jerks--evading responsibility for their lives and proud of it. When will they grow up? Never.Opposed to this band of boys who can't grow up, dangerous creatures lurk in the woods, hidden and deadly. The key scene in the film occurs when one of these creatures slowly reveals herself to Dana (the pregnant protagonist), and gradually morphs from monster into something more recognizably human. Now less threatening, the female creature touches Dana's belly, establishing the identification between her condition and primordial nature.This, I think, is the basic paradigm of this symbolic fable. The world of Man is so split off that Nature has become monstrous and deadly. The film is a fable expressed through a horror movie. But really, the same could be said of many "horror movies." If a viewer is expecting a pure action horror, the film is likely to be disappointing. But there is much more going on here. And, thankfully, this is not another found-footage shaky-cam horror flick. Cinematography is good (as is the direction and acting). I'll likely watch this again.

I'm on a horror podcast, so I've seen it all. I was so pleased that this wasn't the run-of-the-mill that I was expecting—it's a tension- filled, well-paced, scary little ride. Yes, it's a creature movie, but the characters are well-developed (and the acting, for a change, is really GOOD), so we care about them; there are also a few stories going on at the same time, and all of them work well together so that the film's final moments are tied up perfectly (but NOT predictably). What's really impressive is the film's ability to scare due to less is more: we don't see a whole lot until we need to at the end (fans who were terrified by the old stuff like LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK will definitely appreciate this approach). The set-up is tight so that we are plunged into the situation in short order—yet story and development do not get short shrift. If you love creature movies but you're looking for something a little bit different, definitely check this out.

I really enjoyed this wonderful character piece that is light on the gore but heavy on the atmosphere and character development. It takes a while for the threat to show up but it is ever present and the suspense is there. When it is finally revealed I was blown away by what I was presented with. The design is absolutely fantastic!! I'm being purposefully vague as I want you to experience it for yourself.The performances all around are great especially by Fiona Dourif and I never thought I would ever take a performance by Jake Busey seriously but you know what director Patrick Rea pulls it off. The score is another highlight as it really builds the tension and is moving in all the right places. A high recommend!

Just saw this at the theater. Went in with pretty low expectations, as I hadn't heard any buzz about this film (so many other promising horror films coming soon - Get Out, A Cure for Wellness, The Belko Experiment, a remake (or re-adaptation) of It, etc. There were only two other (fairly negative) reviews on IMDb, and I read a couple of other reviews (Dread Central and Kim Newman) that were lukewarm about it. The poster art makes the movie look generic and cheap. The premise sounds pretty simple and unoriginal - a couple stranded in the woods, facing some unknown menace. But I'm glad I gave it a chance. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It's not a "great" film, overly cerebral, emotional, gory, or overly anything. However, there were no moments that particularly bothered me, and all the elements - atmosphere, music, acting, tension - work pretty well together.Dana (Fiona Dourif) and Charles (Kevin Ryan) play a married couple who love each other but have some tensions, such as Charles about to embark on a three-month tour with his band. To celebrate their two-year anniversary and spend some time together before Charles hits the road, they decide to go camping. They soon find disagreements flaring - and to make matters worse, a group of drunk hunters parties and fires off guns at night nearby. But the hunters aren't their only worry, as a mysterious creature quickly dispatches with most of them, leaving only one, Sean (Jake Busey), alive. They rescue him, holing up together in their tent, only to find that Sean might be just as much, if not a greater, threat than the monster outside the tent.The addition of Sean is a brilliant move, as I'm not sure if this would have been as enjoyable without his character, or without Busey's effectively creepy performance. This has the internal-tension-while-under-siege-by-external-threat trope that is pretty common for horror movies (and is there a shorthand name for this? if not, there should be). Everything from Night of the Living Dead to last year's The Monster and Blair Witch relies on it, and I'm a sucker for it. There's not much of a unique take on it here, but it uses those conventions competently. Most good horror is pretty simple in premise; once you get too complicated, you run the risk of ruining the mood. This film knows what it is - a monster-romp-in-the-woods movie - and doesn't try to pretend to be anything more.I'm not sure what to think about the "monster" here, either in its nature or in its visual design. It is strange, not especially scary-looking, and it's hard not to say more without spoiling the film. There's not much explanation for it, although there is a supposed connection to a Native American story told by Sean's "crazy grandma Millie Ray," which sort of makes sense based on what happens, and sort of not.In short, this film is fun if you can just sit back and not think about it too much. It's also a plus if you like the woods as a setting and the above-mentioned siege-type narrative. 7/10 (maybe generous, but for what this film is trying to be, it deserves it).