Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight ★★★
POLISH horror/slasher film Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight is better than its title suggests.
While it generally follows the formula there is enough different in the treatment by writer/director Bartosz M. Kowalski to make this 2020 release stand out from many others.
At first I thought I was watching a blatant rip-off of Friday the 13th with the events taking place at a secluded camp for teenagers located in an area infamous for a series of past murders.
Cue people wandering off by themselves, being dragged off screaming by a crazed lunatic or being killed straight after having sex – always an apparently bad thing to do in slasher films.
The film gets around the mobile phone problem by having the camp run a de-tox program for young people addicted to technology for the duration of which their devices are conveniently confiscated.
There are supernatural and even sci-fi elements to the back stories of some characters and all the technical aspects, including some unusual soundtrack choices, are above average and Julia Wieniawa-Narkiewicz is good in the lead role of Zosia.
The killer(s) are interesting – although the make-up takes a little bit of getting used to – and there is genuine tension in some of the set-ups and confrontations.
The film was well-enough received to warrant a sequel and you can see both of them on Netflix right now. Actually, I suspect they made the two films at the same time because the sequel was released a year or so after the original.
They’re worth a look for slasher fans.