Horror Movie Review: Don’t Go in the Woods (1981)

A video nasty undeserving of the notoriety that being on that list gave. Don’t Go in the Woods (also known as Don’t Go in the Woods… Alone!) is one of the worst horror movies called a ‘nasty’.

A slasher horror directed by James Bryan and written by Garth Eliassen. The story surrounds four campers (and a ton of other nobodies) who are attacked by a savage murderer who lives in the woods that surround a mountain.

It really is as dull as it sounds, even for 1981’s standards. Don’t get excited by the prospect of a memorable video nasty here. It’s anything but that, proven by the fact that it is not only available completely uncut in the UK but has since had its age rating dropped to a 15.

The main plot, the four campers, chugs along at a snail’s pace and to try and pep things up, we get a momentously high body count. A ton of characters with no story are wiped out to try and keep this film interesting. It doesn’t work, aside from the occasional unintentional comedic moment or the one intentional comedic moment that could be seen as offensive.

So, what is good about Don’t Go in the Woods? Not a lot. There’s some nice cinematography, wide and sweeping shots of the mountains and surrounding woods. Enjoy that because there’s nothing else.

The plot is devoid of life and the characters barely defined, halfway through and it still wasn’t clear who was a couple and who were just friends. The acting is awful and the dialogue is so bad it had to be adlibbed. The violence and gore offer nothing exciting; the killer reveal is hilariously bad and the finale, stupid and pointlessly violent. It’s the only time the film really ramps the gore up, except that it looks so fake, no-one could take it seriously.

Don’t Go in the Woods is so bad, it doesn’t deserve an in-depth review. A couple of campers, a killer… there’s nothing more to this trash. The only reason to watch it is if you’ve made it a goal to see every one of the video nasties. Even then, you might end up regretting wasting your time with this one.