Boggy Creek

Boggy Creek (2010)
Directed by Brian T. Jaynes
Written by Brian T. Jaynes and Jennifer Minar

Meah. Meah. Just meah.

This was a semi-sasquatch tale involving hot young people and camping in the woods. That should be enough for you to decide if it's something you'd want to watch or not.


A group of young people (presumably around 22-25) are at a friend's cabin on Boggy Creek, TX. Even after a warning from the neighbor, they decide to camp in the woods anyway. The beast of Boggy Creek attacks them in the night, killing the two men, and taking the two girls to mate with. The end of the film reveals there are tons of these beasts living around the area, so they were outmatched from the beginning.
It was one of those nobody-makes-it-out movies. If you like a resolution with your films, don't watch this.

Shavon Kirksey as Maya from the film.

I associate the sub-mediocrity of the film with the fact that it looks like it's only Jayne's second time directing, and Ferrick Hallaron and Teddy Hallaron aren't that wonderful at their roles as the sound department in this film.
The music is fine (Brandon Bentli), but the audio for dialogue and ambiance is pretty bad. Tons of times in the film the environment overpowers the dialogue. I mean that as in no one was miced and for some reason there weren't dubs, or maybe not even double system sound recording when the group is sitting around the fire; instead you hear some dialogue but your ears are assaulted by the snapping and crackling of wood in the fire. The audio spikes were never taken down. I guess a -12db average was just a rule thrown out the window for this.
In honesty I'm not trying to make personal assaults on the sound folks or the editors, just making observations and putting two and two together.
Pacing was also pretty bad. It had the pacing of a sophomore or junior film student; that pacing where you don't want to cut all that beautiful footage, that pacing when you haven't learned that you cut whatever you need to cut for the sake of your vision and your story.
Editor Christian Remde had only edited for one film prior to this one. Hopefully this was a great learning experience for him. Based on his IMDB Brian T. Jaynes, the other editor, had no other professional editing experience.
Basically this is a beginner film. If that's the case, it's something to be proud of at the time. It's also something to look back on and laugh with your bros and be all like "Dude! Can you believe we did that? Can you believe we let this thing go on for an hour and a half? Can you believe we didn't bump up the dbs on some of that dialogue and lower other audio spikes? Ha!" At least they made something.
On another note, actress and main protagonist of the film Melissa Carnell, also acted in another Jaynes film, Humans VS Zombies.

On a good note, actress Shavon Kirksey, the other female lead, is very beautiful. She reminds me of Eartha Kitt, Catwoman from the 60's batman. They both have that great smile and those striking eyes.
The end.

The Gloaming

The Gloaming (2011)
Directed by Nobrai
Written by Niko Nobrain


A pretty crazy short film
in a good way

Image from http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/the-gloaming-animated-short-film-by-sabotage-studio/

Watch it here http://www.nobrain.fr/the-gloaming-online

It's a lot to put in under 15 minutes--religion, war, politics, and more. This short film has everything from sex to explosion to bulbous hydra human beasts. If that's not enough to draw you on, it's also a mix of many different animation styles.
The Gloaming is 3D, 2D, stop motion, rotoscoping, and probably more that I'm not smart enough to spot. Anyway, just the mix alone is cool, let alone the topic of the film.

So we're in a desert when we meet our protagonist, a sleeping man turned deity. The man awakens, then walks along dunes to find a semi liquid blob on the ground. Upon picking it up it reacts, comes to life, and forms a planet complete with humans.
The man watches his planet progress, and indeed time passes insanely fast on this planet. We go from early man to future enslaved humankind in minutes.
From the beginning of civilization on the planet the man observes how quickly humans take to jealously, greed, and violence, as the first early man covets another's partner so much he kills him just to get her.
Giving up on that part of the world the man spins the planet to find tribes at war. At first when they notice him their war stops to worship, but soon enough they've moved on to destroying each other. The globe spins again and the man observes a civilization more or less something along the lines of the US right now. Families are slaves to processed meat and TV. And on the TV is news about violence.
The man finally comes to a futuristic civilization run by a multi-headed combination of the previous civilization's antagonists. They're harvesting humans for some sort of profit when the man steps in. He crushes one of the mind control satellites only to have another immediately dispatched. The next logical thing is to stop the satellites at the source, so he crushes their dispatch location. This upsets the globular ruler and the man finds himself under attack. He swats at the planet but his arm is stuck. Not only that but the planet begins to consume him! Soon the planet has reverted back to the beige-y blob it started as and it engulfs the man. He's liquified and absorbed, and the blog falls back onto the cracked dry ground it started on. The sun sets.


This film is interesting for a bunch of reasons. Beside the story of the film, the story of Nobrain is interesting too. So you got three homies who worked together in France. They joined forces and created Sabotage Studio. Then they relinquished it in order to take on roles that would allow them more control, from story to style. They became Nobrain, three individual artists acting as one director. Interesting, I'd say.
Also noteworthy is this is a film that transcends language. There's not really any litteral direct conversations between characters. There's grunts and screen and such, and that's all you need in order to understand everything they're saying. Not every wordless film achieves this so successfully.
Favourite scene in my book for this film is pretty much the ending. The man is covered in the sludge and his muffled yell competes against the screeches and screams of the planet and it's dying inhabitants. The rotoscoped look is really fun and intense, and the camera angle is perfect for the action.
Sound team, you're great. Foley is great, music is great. Yup yup.

Batman: Year One

Batman: Year One (1986)
Written by Frank Miller
Illustrated by David Mazzucchelli
Colored by Richmond Lewis
Lettering by Todd Klein


I began writing a review for Year One, the movie, a long time ago, but for some reason I haven't finished it. Instead here I am writing for the comic. I guess it's fitting that this be written before the movie.

This cover for the film is more or less what the last page of vol. 4 looks like. Image from http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Batman:_Year_One_%28film%29


Anyway, so this is based on my experience of reading the 2005 4-volume compilation. I haven't seen any of the original Year One trades in person, probably never will.

This was lovely. Because I didn't know a lot of what the commentary says in the beginning and end of the book I had the mindset of, hmm... interesting palette and style choice. After finishing the whole thing, commentary and all, I know understand and respect the choices a lot more. The style is definitely far from Batman comics now, which is what threw me originally. Commentary explains how Year One was originally printed on newsprint and had only a select few colors available for printing. There's several example pages in the back of how the original run looked and it's cool flipping back and forth between how the colors looked on newsprint (which has a slight beige-y yellow-y tint to it by nature) versus on the brilliant white this compilation is printed on.

Cover of the print of Year One I was reading. Image from http://comicnewbie.com/comic-books/batman-year-one-comic-book-review/


~~~

Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after 12 years. Immediately off the plane he's greeted by the press and asked about affairs with beautiful high profile people. Jim Gordon is also just moving into town and will soon be joined by wife Barbara. On his seedy train ride in Gordon hopes the next time he hears from his wife the pregnancy test will be negative. On page 2 we see Gordon on the train next to a breastfeeding woman who is the only other colored character. Everyone else is ink and monochrome. This is small foreshadowing about how babies are really on Gordon's mind, as it's not until a few panels later we know Gordon's wife may be pregnant.

Gordon is picked up at the station and brought to the current commissioner's office. Gotham has taken in Gordon when no other city would, because Gordon has a tarnished file. Commissioner Loeb, being a criminal himself, feels Gordon's past will lend himself well to becoming crooked like most of Gotham's finest. Gordon, however, promises nothing but honesty.

Meanwhile Bruce is trying to find a way to make the city better. He wants every child, including another young millionaire, to be safe. He wants to be something that ultimately he hopes will not be needed one day. In an early run at justice, Bruce heads to the East End, the worst place in the city he can think of. He winds up getting stabbed, shot, and in a car crash on this messy early mission. Later on he decides he needs to be more than a man. He needs to be something that will instill fear within the unjust. And then... an omen. A bat crashes through the window and perches itself on what I assume to be a bust of Bruce's father. He will become a bat.

 The moment when he knows what he must do. Image from http://virtualpizza.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/book-review-batman-year-one/


In the heart of the city, Barbara's stomach grows and Gordon hopes it's a boy.
In the force Gordon encounters tons of corruption seemingly from everyone. The one light in the darkness--Dent. Regardless of Dent's good will, Gordon eventually finds himself in danger from his own coworkers, eventually saying it would be a shame if something bad were to happen to someone close...
Gordon has amazing physical abilities and will not take threats lightly.

With the new suit, Bruce heads out and finds several kids stealing from an apartment. He catches them on the fire escape, but the stolen good is dropped, and of course things get messy. One kid almost falls to his death, while the other two get beat pretty bad. Need more practice, Bruce.

With this Batman running around 'assaulting' people, Loeb wants Gordon to catch this guy right away. Gordon's first suspect--Dent. He's 'passionate' enough to go through all this crazy vigilante stuff; since his criminals always seem to get away this is the only way to really get 'em. Unfortunately that's not the case, though Dent has spoken with Batman. Next suspect--Bruce Wayne.

Gordon sets up traps around the city, fake crimes, to try to luer Batman out, to no avail. He does nearly catch him though, when he sees Batman's not just some crazy dude that beats up anyone. He's purposeful in his actions. Gordon sees with his own eyes Batman save an older woman from a truck.

Unfortunately what Gordon saw doesn't seem to matter, because right afterwards a pursued Batman seeks shelter in an abandoned building and ends up severely wounded. After making a narrow escape from a SWAT team, Gordon tries to get an appointment to speak with Bruce.

Long after the initial call Gordon is able to meet Bruce. Him and Barbara go to Wayne Manor and meet a womanizing pig of a man. Barbara is fooled and disgusted while Gordon thinks something's suspicious... Upon their departure, Gordon also ends up telling his wife about an affair with a woman at the office. She'll be transferring soon because this can't go on. We don't hear what Barbara has to say, but whatever the two decide on, Barbara and Jim stay together.

When the baby finally arrives Loeb finds its the perfect time to go rough Gordon up by messing with his family. Gordon has, after all, taken down a lot of criminals that were in turn friends of Loeb's. Gordon, after all, doesn't take bribes. Gordon, after all, tries to be honest and just at all times.

Late at night Gordon get's called out to work, only to return to his parking complex after just exiting. Something's not right. Calling him out so late on his day off and then the bike speeding into the parking complex he came from, it's not adding up.

When he gets out of his car he's looking for the biker. What he finds instead are Gotham 'police' holding his wife and son for ransom. He takes a shot, giving Barbara time enough to slip away, but the car with his son takes off.
The bike tries to go after, but Gordon gets another shot in. The man falls from the bike and Gordon takes it to pursue.
With the biker on the ground, Barbara holds him at gunpoint. The man however tells her he won't let her son die, and the man leaves.

The car has crashed on a bridge when Gordon catches up. He's horrified that he can't hear his baby cry and approaches the car. The driver is dead, but a man steps out from the back with the child, hitting Jim in the face and knocking his glasses off. Meanwhile in the back another man arrives on the scene.
Gordon wrestles with the man and then the baby is dropped.

The third man dives off the bridge after the child and catches it right before hitting the water. Gordon and the other man tumble over the rail as well. Gordon makes it out fine and the man gives the child to him. Gordon looks at him and says how he's practically blind without his glasses and that the man should probably leave.

Some time later Gordon mentions a psycho named Joker, who is planning to poison the water supply, but thinks he has a friend who can help. The batsignal lights up the sky.

~~~

I want to take a moment to also talk about batfamily ages, a topic lots of people love to dissect.
This book states Bruce is 25 when he begins his life as Batman.
He presumably takes on Dick Grayson 2-3 years later (so Bruce is 27-28).
There's around a 6-7 year gap between Robin and Batgirl, making her about 18 when Robin first takes to the scene.
The age gap in regards to the Dick/Babs romance is funny to think about. Babs and Dick flirt a bit in the early comics, but nothing comes of it really until the age gap doesn't involve a professional woman and a teenager.

Yup.

Joe Kovacs!

Got to speak with the amazing  Joe Kovacs the other day! If you're into puppeteers then maybe the name rings a bell. Mr. Kovacs has been Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House Live, as well as Barney the Dinosaur and more.

I cannot tell you how amicable and phenomenal he was. He was outside trying to get a moment alone at the party we were at and I came and badgered him. However he didn't act upset or anything. In fact he proceeded to talk to me for a long time, all the while people (parents and kids) were constantly coming by to say hi. He took it with such grace. I mean, I can only imagine how tedious is must be to have to act almost as a role model when these kids come up to meet him, and when you've been doing puppeteer for so long I can only imagine how many people have approached him. But he took time to say something to each and every one of them, adults and children alike! What a guy.

He works in New York so if you there and he's puppeteering a show near you, check it out, and talk to him if you can. He's nice, talented, and patient. Three amazing qualities.

Image from http://instinctmagazine.com/archives/celebrity-interviews/madame-takes-our-pop-quiz

Hypothermia

Hypothermia (2010)
Directed by James Felix McKenney

Holy moly the monster makeup is horrific in this.

Image from http://turntherightcorner.com/2012/10/16/hypothermia-movie-review/

Husband, wife, son, and girlfriend are on a remote family vaca to go ice fishing. Things start to go wrong when he father, ice fishing vet, somehow breaks through the ice and nearly dies of hypothermia. Luckily his wife and son leave their cabin in the night looking for him.
Though he recovers fine and blames the accident on carelessness, things are much worse.
The next morning s douche bag and his son drive onto, music blaring, the ice with their trailer for some fishing. Immediately the two families don't see eye to eye. However something large passes them under the ice and douche dad wants to team up to catch the thing.
Douche's son drills open a massive hole in the ice anticipating the catch, but the createure ends up nearly catching him.
After pulling his body out from the freezing water, the young ma says it's no fish. In fact the thing has legs. Additionally the creature has cut open the boy's arm deeply and before long the wound looks infected. The family tries to convince douche to take his son to a hispital but he won't consider it until the boy passes out next to the hole in the ice, just in time to get dragged away for good. Douche dad tries to get his son back, but is wounded himself.
When he comes to, douche dad finds his son is gone and the girlfriend has treated his wounds best she can. He however is intent on not resting until he gets the monster that took his son. He leaves the trailer and starts up some machinery, hypothesizing that the vibrations on the ice are how it targets people. His plan is to shoot it dead as soon as it pops out. Unfortunately douche is apparently a horrible shot in the night. He misses all his shots when the thing attacks, and foolishly continues to chase after it in the dark which leads to his demise.
The father and son, unable to help douche, seek shelter back in the trailer after the son has taken a cut to the face. Mom, fearing the creature has venom, tries to suck the possible toxins from his wounds.
Agreeing that the vibrations are attracting the thing, the four decide they will silently hole up in the trailer for the night. As things calm down, the son lays down on the floor. Unfortunately the trailer has built in small holes for ice fishing, and the creature reaches through slashing the boy's throat and killing him.
In the morning the remaining group leaves and the girlfriend confesses how they were going to be married and planned in making the announcement yesterday but things went south. Though they are all grieving the first focus is making it off of the ice. They keep their eyes out for weak spots in the ice as that's the most likely attack spot.
Sure enough the creature breaks through, taking the husband. Not wanting his sacrifice to be in vain the wife pushes the girl and herself on. They're almost to the cabin when the creature appears right at the edge of the lake. The wife, quivering in the snow with the girlfriend, apologizes to the creature for infringing on its territory and tells it it's already taken the most important parts of her life away from her. Something clicks and the creatures leaves them.

 
 
Images from http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/6035/exclusive-clawful-still-hypothermia and http://www.aintitcool.com/node/58875

So above are the various covers. One is really retro B movie looking, while the other is more contemporary. The one to the right obviously plays to the horrible monster costume more, while if you look at the right one then see the film you're probably pretty disappointed.
Now you don't see full stationary shots of the creature much (it's mostly a lot of shaky night shots), but when you do... boy, it's bad. When I saw the creature out of water running on the ice first I kind of didn't believe it was that bad. But sure enough next shot on the surface it was. It basically looks like a dude in a wetsuit.
Aside from that the movie was okay, better than the last film with Michael Rooker, Merle Dixon in The Walking Dead, that I'd seen named Pennhust.
Douche, played by Don Wood, is a really abrasive character and Wood did a heck of a job portraying him. In the beginning the douche is so inconsiderate it's almost comical, but after a while the viewer just accepts the character.
For a movie with a seemingly microscopic budget the talent was good and gore makeup was good. Lighting was almost non existent a few times so that could've used improvement. Audio was pretty clean and clear the whole time. I wonder how quickly the film was shot now that I think about it...
Like Pennhust unless you're a big fan of Michael Rooker or someone else involved in the film, it's not really worth it because of the monster.

Citadel

Citadel (2012)
Directed by Ciaran Foy



Images from http://cinema-way.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Citadel-movie-poster.jpg and http://www.upcoming-movies.com/new/citadel-poster-2/

...
Amazing...
Like Children of Men? You'll probably enjoy this.
Protagonist Tommy's talent, Aneurin Barnard, does an amazing job with a complicated character. Seriously.
From the walk, to the occasional stutter, to a final transformative moment when he acts like a normal self-respecting male, Barnard nailed everything! In my opinion because of his performance in this piece, he is one of the best actors I've ever seen! It will be awesome to maybe meet him in person one day. For now, I've become a fan.

This movie is so boss.

Image from http://www.examiner.com/article/q-a-with-ciaran-foy-writer-and-director-of-the-new-horror-movie-citadel

Young husband and soon to be father, Tommy, is trying to get off of an elevator to see his wife, waiting on the other side of the elevator's window when the door won't open! Through the window Tommy sees his wife approached by a gang of kids. They become aggressive and Tommy is powerless. The elevator goes down to the ground level before he can get off and run back to floor 11. Once there he finds his wife on the ground with a needle in her pregnant belly. In the hospital she becomes comatose, however the baby is delivered unharmed.
The better part of a year later Tommy is struggling with severe agoraphobia, seldom leaving his apartment except to go to the hospital or group therapy sessions.
Tommy finally decides he needs to take his wife off life support and literally move on. He wants to take his daughter, Elsa, and go somewhere out of their dingy part of the city.
When turning in his keys, Tommy unfortunately misses his bus. Being that he lives in a shady part of town he breaks into his old place and tries to hold out in there for the night.
Others show up too... Kids break in, beat Tommy, tear apart the second floor looking for something and eventually split. Of course he immediately thinks it's the same kids as before.
Tommy, shaken of course (and this situation is not helping his agoraphobia), is however relieved to find Elsa unharmed. Tommy then tears apart the downstairs, using cabinet doors to cover open patches in the door from the invasion.
He then holes up with Elsa in the bathroom. Who knows how long he was actually thinking he could make it in there. Armed with a hammer he hears someone force their way through the front door and try to open the bathroom. Luckily it's a familiar voice. Marie, employee at the hospice Tommy's wife was in, has come over to check on them.
She works on getting them to leave the house and takes the two back to her place for a while until the next bus comes.
On their way to drop Tommy and Elsa off at the bus stop they are confronted by a group of kids. Tommy wants to turn back and take a long way around them, but Marie insists their just harmless misunderstood homeless youth trying to get by. She tries to prove it by confronting them. This goes horribly wrong and they destroy her.
Tommy frantically runs for it with baby Elsa and is lucky enough to catch the bus somehow. The bus goes several stops before one of the kids breaks on and kills everyone else. Tommy catches a glimpse of the killer and it doesn't look like any child he's ever seen. The kid looks like a grey wrinkled wreck. Somehow it doesn't seem like it can see either. It senses people in some other way... More of the kids get on the but and steal Elsa away from Tommy, knocking him unconscious.
When he comes to he's in a hospital bed. He gets up and looks for help, finding a priest who had attending his wife's funeral. He had previously mentioned how those 'kids' aren't kids at all, and Elsa is in danger.
The priest makes a deal with Tommy that he'll help him get his daughter back if Tommy will help catch the kids' building on fire.
Tommy, the priest, and child Danny (rescued from the 'kids' by the priest) head out immediately in the night. The priest explains that the kids are the tortured spawn rooted back to, more or less, a crack whore. During her addiction she had two children who interbred. Having been on drugs since before their were born they grow up on the only substance their know. The drug ends up becoming something worse than meth or crack. It blinds the kids to everything except fear. They see and target grown ups who are afraid, Tommy being the perfect target. And they steal other children, get them addicted, and thus keep their gang growing. This is why they've taken Elsa. If she stays too long she'll become one of them.
Danny, having lived in the midst of the kids, has some of their attributes like the ability to see fear, and their wrinkled grey hands. Tommy in his fear knows he's anything but invisible to these things, but the priest assures him that another of Danny's other abilities is he can hide fear so long as Tommy holds the boy's hand.
During the darkness the kids are on the prowl, leaving their building mostly empty, so the group has to set the building to explode just as everyone gets back at dawn. Inside the building, the very one Tommy used to live in one year ago, they turn on the gas valves and strike holes into the pipes on various floors. They also set plastic explosives. All they need to do now is get Elsa then turn the ignition on in their care and the place will burn.
Unfortunately a sickness flares up and the priest hacks up blood. He has presumably been ill for some time, after probably injected or bitten by the kids when he saved Danny fromt them. Suddenly Danny can see him! This means only one thing--the priest is afraid.
He tells Tommy and Danny to get Elsa and leave. Why can't Danny hide both of them, Tommy wants to know. Because... Danny could never hide anyone.
Leading the remaining monsters in the building away from the two boys, the priest is beaten to death.
Tommy finds Elsa in the basement, with other babies being converted. It's the very place Danny was once held. Danny freaks out at this reunion, and it's Tommy's turn to  be brave enough for the group of them.
Tommy takes both kids and they head for the exit. Only yards from a clean getaway they see daylight and the creatures coming back. Danny, unable to truly hide fear, and fearing getting stolen again, doubts that they'll make it out. Tommy wraps his girl in one arm and holds Danny tight with his other. 'They won't see us.'
They walk right past them.
At the car, they turn the ignition. The building is in flames. Danny has a new family, Elsa has been rescued, and Tommy has finally become the man he is meant to be.


I like this happy ending :)

The whole stealing children and having them turn into deformed goblin things gave me a real Labyrinth moment fo sho.
This film has a more slower steady pace than lots of Hollywood horror. Short attention spans probably won't go well with this film. The subtlety of the monsters is eerie, but again not for people who can't focus.
Have you seen Aphex Twin's music video Come to Daddy? It's a music video about these kids in an abandoned building who summon some sort of evil that then proceeds to harass an old woman passing by. It's more creepy than that, certainly, but it fits well with this movie.
The colors are pretty muted like Children of Men. There's no airborne mystery sterilyzing virus though. There's also no stars known in the US in it.
Congrats to Ciarin Foy on an awesome first time directing a feature length himself.
Also great job with the talent selected. James Cosmo (the priest), Wunmi Mosaku (Marie) and Aneurin Barnard (Tommy) are an amazing group. Barnard seems to be a really dedicated actor, having spent time in those therapy groups and visited people with extreme agoraphobia. Reminds me of Gaspard Ulliel from Hannibal Rising. I recall reading that he visited medical schools to get antiquated with dead bodies for his role.

Love this movie.

Image from http://www.shockya.com/news/2012/10/13/citadel-movie-review/

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.