DVD Review: 'The Backwoods'

Stellar British actors Gary Oldman and Paddy Considine get lost in Northern Spain's hunting grounds in "The Backwoods.”

If the ending weren't so confounding, their presence would be the alleged thriller's biggest psychological conundrum.

The low-budget U.K.-Spanish-French film, released on DVD by horror peddlers Lionsgate, is set in 1978. Insecure Norman (Considine) and his temperamental wife, Lucy (Virginie Ledoyen), travel to Spain to heal rifts in their union. Their friends, domineering Paul (Oldman) and wife Isabel (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), have renovated the old cabin once owned by Paul's Spanish grandmother.

Paul and Norman go on a male-bonding hunting trip and discover a seemingly abandoned shack with a filthy, deformed girl (Yaiza Esteve) locked inside. They whisk away the girl, who can't speak but is docile, to Paul's cabin.

A contingent of her heavily armed extended family soon comes knocking, claiming the girl wandered from the village. The villagers, led by Paco (Lluís Homar), clearly think the vacationers have the child.

Paul insists on joining the search so he can lead away the rednecks — apparently, rednecks are a universal occurrence — leaving Norman to protect the womenfolk.

First-time feature director Koldo Serra creates a moody atmosphere but can't sustain any tension.

"The Backwoods” seems to be reaching for deep meaning, but doesn't come close.

— Brandy McDonnell