the audience applauded

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This is one of those films with a great idea, but less-than-ideal development.The problem is that the characters' motivations and interactions -- and the nature of the strange events -- are often unclear. These should unfold slowly, to build suspense, but they don't "unfold" at all. And too much attention is initially paid to one girl, rather than keeping the audience wondering. We only start to properly understand things near the end -- and the climax is a doozy.I couldn't help but think of Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt", which has a similar problem with development, but for the opposite reason. We know from the first scene exactly what's going on. There is absolutely no suspense. And the ending is hardly a surprise.Recommended, but be prepared to watch it a second time to see how the often confusing pieces fit together.

Extremely creepy, but somewhat unsatisfactory horror melodrama. The film has some marvelous special effects sequences, but the plot is not only confusing but far too way out to hold our full attention, despite excellent work by a hard-working cast led by Agnes Bruckner, Patricia Clarkson and Bruce Campbell.A lot of money was spent on the film too, but a large budget and good acting cannot go the full distance when the screenplay is both impossibly hazy and totally unbelievable.Admittedly, the movie starts well, but all the promise inherent in the early scenes is virtually lost when the screenplay decides to go all out on horror and elaborate special effects and never mind veresimilitude!.Available on an excellent UA DVD. (Take no notice of the exceptionally bad back cover, half of which is so messy, it is virtually impossible to read).

This seems like an underrated film. Much better than many of the big budget Hollywood movies that I've seen in recent years. If it is true that this went straight to video, then would like to know the reason.Anyhow, the quality and timing seemed similar to "Ninth Gate", so people that liked that might like this movie as well.Any educators watching should take note of some of the phrases used such as the, "...continue with our work and trust that all will be resolved in time. Dismissed" announcement made after students went missing. "Miss Fasulo is expected in chapel" to get the kid away at an awkward moment. They just don't teach control techniques like that anymore. But there also are a few hints the teachers are phony.The opening song may be related to the premise, but not sure about that.In one scene a character seems to be trying to avoid having to use one of her tricks (sort of like a snake not wanting to waste venom).She's in shock May have internal injuries Mild concussion Hasn't been fully examined Let them do their workSome of the special effects especially the tree (roots?) were just okay. Overall nicely atmospheric with thoughtful touches but not overdone.There were only a few men in the film so it might have been kind of interesting if there were none (sort of like "The Women"). Sorry just an oddball thought I had and no disrespect to the male actors who were all very good too.I've seen "The Woods" a few times already and would likely enjoy watching it again.

This movie is in 1965 and it moves along at that kind of pace. NOT a bad thing to my mind. Mommy doesn't daughter Heather for setting a fire and convinces daddy dear Joe, played by Bruce Campbell, to place her in a all girls school in, wait for it, the woods. As the show progresses two girls go missing when a fog enters the dorm. They are replaced by piles of dead leaves that are found in their beds. One girl who has been trying to help is found hung in the dining room. Before she is killed she has called daddy and he comes out with mommy dearest to take Heather back home. In case you haven't figured it out the teachers are all witches and cause the car to go of the road and coming up against a tree. Not a good thing in this film. Mommy gets killed, daddy and daughter go to a hospital where the head witch slits her palm and forces the blood (?) down Joe's throat thereby making a drone of him. Heather is dragged back to the school. Here she ends up taken to the crypt(?) where several of the missing girls are wrapped in tree limbs waiting to be taken over by the spirits trapped in the woods. Bruce throws up the witches brew, escapes the hospital, goes to the school where he finds an axe. He uses on a witch but gets tossed to the ground where the tree limbs start to wrap him up. Heather as used the distraction to break free and grabs the axe. Man does she wail away she chops 3-4 of the coven before slicing the root of the head witch. This apparently is all that is needed as all the teachers drop dead. It also frees daddy. The ending shows Heather burning pages from a test plus other things. The very last scene has Joe and Heather walking down the road with the rescued girls. Well done and not just some blood, guts, and gore for shock value unlike so many horror films today.