The first half of The Backwoods, with its Seventies setting, stilted dialogue, and the camera’s lascivious lingering over the foreign actresses, feels like a soft porn movie. Later, it lurches towards Deliverance and Straw Dogs. The film features two quarreling couples on holiday in the Basque region of Spain who encounter hostile locals and stumble across a feral girl locked in an abandoned cottage in the woods. The plot meanders into several cul de sacs, then, after a dull first hour, accelerates towards an obtuse ending.
The decent cinematography, and a cast which includes Gary Oldman, Virginie Ledoyen and Paddy Considine (all outshone by Lluís Homar, leader of a gang of yokels), is wasted on a weak, cliché-ridden script.
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