Check out the review KILLER.COM gave "If A Tree Falls". You can check it out at this link here or read below.
Recently I had the chance to witness If a Tree Falls, a Canadian slasher film helmed by promising director Philip Carrer and writer Ryan Barrett. Instead of capitalizing on the unauthentic “Grindhouse Redux” knock-offs that so many spurious and pompous filmgoers are eating up today, If a Tree Falls ventures back to a time when Grindhouse films were in their prime amongst true horror aficionados and when the word ‘cult’ wasn’t used to promote trendy mainstream cinema.
The film starts off with siblings Brad and Lisa Carpenter (played by Ryan Barrett and Jennifer De Lucia) and both of their good friends Vanessa and Will (played by Breannete Boekhorst and Daniel Zuccala) as they embark on a road trip across Canada to get to an annual family reunion. The fun road trip quickly takes a turn for the worse when the group decides to find a place in the woods to camp out for the night and they soon realize that they are not alone. When six masked assailants crash their camp site, the group endures torture and sadistic psychological games deep in the woods where nobody can hear a tree fall, let alone their blood-curdling screams.
Like last year’s surprise sleeper hit, House of the Devil, Carrer’s intention is to make a bonafide throwback to the late seventies grindhouse era and he proves this by providing many freeze-framing shots, a vintage title sequence and a gritty look distinctively different from the aesthetics of a mainstream film that will make the easily nostalgic grin from ear to ear.
Despite its seemingly redundant premise, If a Tree Falls manages to set itself apart from most films of this genre by boldly breaking the rules and avoiding use of gratuitous shots of gore-laden carnage and ample nudity. Although many fans would expect needless gore and nudity to be prerequisites in an ultra-low budget indie like this, it is the film’s slow-burning pace that skilfully compensates for the film’s lack of special effects, nipples and grue.
What also makes If a Tree Falls unlike most low-budget slashers is its ability to blend in stark realism with grindhouse terror. There are no token slut or jock characters or virgins with superhuman strength. The killers are not disfigured hill billy rapist cannibals or psychos equipped with five minute long monologues explaining their “motives” and the horror doesn’t stop when the sun rises. The filmmakers’ decision to steer clear of themes dealing with exploitative misogyny and racism also put a smile on this reviewer’s face, as it made it that much harder to determine who would survive or simply last the longest.
As far as the acting goes in the film, it was far better than one would expect to see in a low-budget slasher. Despite the fact that the lack of playful banter between the leads in the film’s first half makes it difficult to fall in love with any one of the protagonists, it was in the unsettling second half where the actors got to stand out. However, it’s Breannete Boekhorst that manages to steal the show as one of the terrified victims with her believably vulnerable performance.
Even though If a Tree Falls struggles at times to rise above its low-budget origins, it is evocative of the genre it successfully emulates for the film is able to exemplify many of the Grindhouse genre’s strengths and weaknesses. If you’re a fan of weathered rural slashers of the late seventies, be sure to catch this taut and savage thriller when it hits the festival circuit later this summer.
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