The Barrens

The Barrens (2012)
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman

Unexpectedly good.
When I head this was a movie about the Jersey Devil, I figured it was going to be a campy B movie about supposed folklore, ya know?
Wrong! Like The Lost Coast Tapes, this film manages to take a topic that's often laughable in films and make it something sinister and entertaining.
Like Alien and The Lost Coast Tapes, this film holds out on showing the 'monster' fully pretty much until the final showdown at the end.
So if you were hoping for a hoaky movie with the monster on screen constantly chasing the characters and mutilating them, this won't fill the void.


In the same fashion as many other films, The Barrens is centered around a group of people going camping. Richard, father of 2, his second wife, and the kids are going camping. The only one who actually wants to go is dad, but the rest of the family is dragged along. Richard is driven to get out into the wilderness to spread his dad's ashes.
On their way to the campgrounds a dying deer wanders in front of their car and collapses, almost causing an accident. Chalking it up to hunters, the family drives on to their site.

 Richard inspects the deer before the family drives off, noting that some weird stuff has happened to its body and antlers. Image from http://violetrepulsion.blogspot.com/2012/10/jersey-horrors.html

Once their Richard is incredibly disappointed to find the camp site littered with young adults and their electronics. Teenage daughter Sadie of course loves it, and quickly latches on to one of the boys.
The whole campsite gathers in the night for ghost stories, and someone brings up the tale of the Jersey Devil, 13th daughter of a whore, given to the devil, and said to roam these parts. One of the campers goes to relieve himself and never comes back.
After a few days of being uncharacteristically odd and oversensitive, Richard decides the family needs to find a new camp ground. The family packs up and presses on into the forests. As clouds roll in the family finds a dead dog near a tent, bringing thoughts of their own down that had gone 'missing' a little while before. Richard cuts the body loose from the tree it was leashed to and dumps it elsewhere.
As he is doing so, lover-boy from the camp pops up because Sadie has called him to hang out. Furious that his daughter was using a phone on a camping trip Richard sends the boy away and flips out on his family. He's getting worse...
In the night, Richard reveals that something is wrong with his arm to his wife, a nurse. Turns out their dog didn't go missing. Richard had killed him after he attached Richard. The dog's behavior had changed until eventually he bit Richard, spreading rabies to Richard rabies. His wife insists they leave as soon as possible.
After some scares from the darkness in the woods and what may be the cause, wife Cynthia tries to call for help on another phone, saying her husband is sick and they're in trouble. Authorities are on their way. Unfortunately the madness has set into Richard further and he attacks Cynthia. Sadie knocks him out long enough to tie him up. Unfortunately Cynthia is busted up from the assault, and instructs her kids to try to get back to the first campsite or someone for help and to hurry back if they don't make it before nightfall. The kids eventually wind up back with their mom, but Richard seems to have lost it completely--he holds up a gun to his family. Authorities appear, and just as Richard is about to shoot, they shoot him. Sadly, he was not aiming at his family, but the Jersey Devil behind them. Finally seeing the creature, everyone is attacked and killed.

Mom Cynthia and her kids try to escape. Image from http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-barrens-v569405

For big horror fans out there, Darren Lynn Bousman's name might sound very familiar. He's also the director of Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV.
The Barrens' main character, Richard played by Stephen Moyer, is also a familiar to many people as Bill Compton from True Blood. His portfolio shows he's also acted in Walking Dead, not to be confused with The Walking Dead, and 2011's Priest.

All in all, this film is not your typical American Hollywood face-paced constant action movie. It's got more structure, more subtle drama that builds into the climax of the piece. It's also got pretty okay character development for some characters like Sadie.
Since today's movies have such a fast pace with tons of quick cuts, people with tiny attention spans probably couldn't stand watching this. Otherwise, give it a go.