Macabre…ish Horror Review: Wilderness
Wilderness, 2006/ 1 hr 32 min
In a juvenile facility for problematic kids,
boys are relentless bullied and one of them, Dave (John Travers), commits suicide. As a result, the rest are sent to an island, for a team building retreat, of sorts.
They are dropped off, with their gear, on an uninhabited island formerly owned by the Army. There are 4 tents, one for the warden, Jed (Sean Pertwee), one for their gear and 2 for the lot of them to share. They cook by fire, drink from a stream and survive on their wits.
There should be no one on this island but there are signs of life. And Callum (Tobey Kebbell) is struck in the head while getting water. But he saw no one. Later, during a hike, they find another camp, with a group of female delinquents, led by Team Lead, Louise (Alex Reid), on their own ‘retreat’ but they agree to split the island and stay on their own side.
And in an abandoned wreck of a monastery they find a man living there. Which is bad news for him because some of these kids enjoy hurting people. But one of the wrong one’s is accused. When Jed looks for his phone to call for help, it’s gone.
Then a torn off arm is seen going down the river. Right after that, Jed is shot by arrows and torn to shreds by a well trained pack of dogs. Louise outruns the dogs, right off of a cliff but she doesn’t go alone. The group finds what remains of Jethro (Richie Campbell), who’s arm went down the river, tied high in a tree, with a D on him.
These kids are being hunted by a madman. They spend the night in an abandoned cabin and try to figure out who’s doing it. Meanwhile, while they fight amongst each other, they find a field of bear traps in the worst possible way. Then they hear the dogs coming again…
They have to get off this island.
This is a British-Irish action horror and it is heavy. Once the action starts, the pacing is pretty fast. The physical effects are really graphic and really gory, better than the little bit of CG that’s in this. It’s a good story with a good ending. I really enjoyed this one!!
Trigger warning: Suicide, bullying, attempted sexual assault, dog death