Meadowoods Review

7.5/10

"Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself." James Anthony Froude- Historian.

The quote above is the first words of this 2010 indie horror flick. "Meadowoods" has not been a largely known film by the public. It was direct to video, and it will never have the same notoriety as a classic like "Halloween."  It is a movie about the sadistic mindset of three teens that killing someone is a way to have a good time.  While aspects of the film were stereotypical, there is a lot of originality in the storyline, and I enjoyed this movie a lot. 

In the first scenes of the movie, we meet the main characters Ryan, Travis, and Stephanie.  They tell us about how their lives were boring and miserable, and that then we're going to liven things up by killing someone. They depict the many factors that will go into their plan including; age, gender, the way they will do it, etc.  This plot is so disturbing in my opinion, because these kids don't even know the extent of what they're doing. They almost make the killing of this person seem like it will be a game. It is also a very original plot for a horror film, because instead of seeing people just randomly die, we know everything that is going to happen to them. 

The film revolves around the three characters for the majority of the time, and in this, we find out a lot about them.  While their characterizations weren't original at all, they worked very well for the film itself. Travis is the crazy one of the friends.  He is constantly goofy, and he doesn't show any distress at all in the killing.  He is also a bully to Ryan, as he constantly brings him down with demeaning comments.  It is also shown that he doesn't have many people that care about him, and it has made his life meaningless. Stephanie hates everyone and everything in the world. She is extremely troubled because of harm done to her, and she lacks any kindness at all.  She believes that the killing is totally just, because "everything gets hurt at some point of their life."  Ryan is the outcast of the group. He is quiet, insecure, and he does not want the killing to happen.  He ends up falling for the target, and he gets pushed away even more. He is the only one that has a realistic idea of what it going on, and he knows how terrible it is.  He is also very melancholy, because of the fact that his parents are never there for him. They leave town constantly, and don't give the time of day to him. I feel like the only reason he hangs around with Travis and Stephanie is that they are the only ones that pay attention to him at all,  regardless of how terrible they are to him.  The only other character we get to know is Kayla; the potential victim of the killing.  She is interviewed by Ryan, and we get to see a lot of the facts of her life. She is extremely smart, beautiful, and musically talented.  She has great plans for her future, and she is an all around great person.  It is so sad to see this, because if they kill her, then a person with so much potential will just be wasted. Her dark side is the insecurities of feeling that she will be alone forever, even with the knowledge that many people care about her. The four of these characters are almost like "The Breakfast Club," because they fit a category very well, and they try to get each other to express their feelings. 

The actors portraying the characters were all fantastic in my opinion.  Michael Downey was very well suited for the role of Ryan, because he had a great way of showing his sadness, and he kept his performance pretty low key.  This was totally necessary, because his lack of opening up really showed how much he was just going through the motions with the others. You can really see the toll that this whole thing takes on him, because by the last half of the film, he becomes fed up with his former friends, and he just ditches them.  Connor Thorp was absolutely awesome in the role of Travis. He was so professional, that I wouldn't want to meet him in real life. The way that he portrayed the sadistic qualities of this character was extremely crazy, because he showed no regret at all in what he was doing, and he could also portray his anger immensely.  Kerry Goodwin was exceptional in her role of Stephanie, because she had such a dark way about her. You could tell her anger towards everything, and the many depressions she seems to face. My favorite cast member was definitely Ila Schactler in the role of Kayla.  She started out as such an easy going person, but she made a complete transition in acting as a person being tortured. She showed so much fear and anguish, and her performance gave me the chills.

The movie was shot in documentary format, so it had the same look as films like "Blair Witch Project." While I'm not usually a fan of this type of movie, I could make an exception for this one, because the shaky cameras were completely necessary in the sense that most of the film was from the videos that Ryan was making. It also gives us a feeling that we are watching through his eyes, and it was extremely neat. 

There was not one instance of blood or gore in this film.  Regardless of this, the last half of the film was one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. The torture is not violent in the way you would usually think, but it really messes with the mind of Kayla.  The box technique was absolutely horrifying, because it was so claustrophobic, and her fear was insane.  I love the way this scene was shot, because for a lot of it, the screen was completely black, and the only sense you could use was hearing. This made so much room for imagination as to what Kayla was going through.  When the light came on, things were still dim, yet now you could see how small of a space this really was.  So while this isn't your typical slasher film, it is extremely brutal for this reason. 

The ending shocked me a lot.  I was expecting a much different outcome, but this one was really awesome. Instead of giving you the happy ending that was wanted, this film left you on such a sad note that it isn't something that will never be forgotten. 

I liked this film a lot. There was a super interesting storyline, a fantastic cast, and some horrifying scenes. While I think some things were generic as could be, it was a small blemish in an otherwise awesome film. The fact that a direct to video film could be this great really impressed me, and I recommend it to all of you for sure.