“Between The Trees” is an intricately woven tale of a mysterious creature and betrayal among friends, which unrolls over a weekend hunting trip.
Barbed Wire Films brings us this production directed by emerging director Brad Douglas, who is also known for his 2017 film Besetment — also set in a remote town in the USA.
We’re first introduced to Steve, a middle aged man struggling with his marriage. He arranges a weekend hunting trip with his three best friends before he returns home to deal with the lightly hinted at issues he’s been having with his wife. The men set out together for a remote cabin. On the way, they stop at a small town’s local bar, where mixing with locals goes awry quickly and the men are forced to leave.
Refreshed with a few beers to continue their journey to the cabin, they arrive just as the day starts to come to a close. Before heading to bed, they participate in a less then friendly poker game, leading to arguments among friends fueled by alcohol. Finally, the men decide to head to bed for the night, but not before they hear loud moans and howls coming from the woods.
The next day, they decide to head into the forest to begin their hunting and perhaps find the source of the strange noises that they heard the night before. As Steve steps outside, he discovers that all the wires on their car have been cut. He decides to head to the highway for help but quickly returns after finding a massive footprint. After showing the others, the men quickly fantasize that perhaps they’ve stumbled upon the notorious Big Foot and decide to hunt it.
Just before the men return to the cabin, they are attacked out of nowhere. Armed for hunting, they quickly retaliate — only to discover that they’ve killed a strangely deformed boy.
Nervous that the boy’s father will come for them, as the strange noises in the woods continue at night, they plot how to kill this mysterious man when he comes for them. As Steve also begins to struggle with the issues occurring at home with his wife, he finds a way to isolate each friend to ask them for advice, probing to see what they know that he may not. As tensions run high, the mysterious man in the woods may not be the only danger to the supposed group of friends in the isolated cabin.
With its strange mix of backwoods horror and melodrama, Between The Trees is a fun little flick about karmic justice that’s perfect to check out if you’re not in the mood to take things too seriously.
As of March 5, 2019, Between the Trees is available on digital streaming via Uncork’d Entertainment.
Rating: 2/5
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