Starring: Missy Peregrym, Jeff Roop, Eric Balfour
Directed By: Adam MacDonald
Running Time: 91 mins
IFC Midnight
Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars
In Backcountry, lawyer Jenn (Missy Peregrym) is lead by boyfriend, Alex (Jeff Roop) on her very first camping trip. Their route is the ominously titled Blackfoot Trail that Alex is supposedly familiar with from youthful visits. In Jenn’s case, never has a failed “Rate Your Boyfriend!” magazine quiz ever been more foreboding.
Not only does Alex fail that fun roadtrip timekiller, he then proceeds to reject common sense essentials like cell phones and maps to take on this ideal hike. His foolishness only further asserts itself when on the first night a charismatic Irish trail guide (Eric Balfour) splits an awkward campfire fish dinner with the couple and insinuates Alex knows less about the woods than he’s letting on. Instead of admitting his directional knowledge is limited, Alex doggedly resumes their wandering with a view to reach a beautiful lakeside that he assures Jenn will be worth the trouble. As you may have guessed, it’s really not.
It’s difficult to judge this film’s plausibility given that it’s touted as being based on a true story, but Alex’s stubborn trudge against all logical precautions—not to mention the blatant disregard for the safety of his girlfriend while he’s at it—can be an astoundingly frustrating watch for seasoned horror film viewers. He flouted the advice of the weathered old townie at the outpost five minutes in for pete’s sake! It also takes far too long to really understand just why Alex is so aggressively set on their destination, long enough to question Jenn’s intelligence too I found. When they finally do have a confrontation, the actors do so admirably and it felt a great relief to finally have Alex’s ignorance called out, but it seemed just too little too late. Alex is right up there with the Quiji-board buying boyfriend from Paranormal Activity in the bad choices department.
The edge is taken off of that frustration a bit by the impressive cinematography that can go from encompassing the vastness of the Canadian wilderness—beautiful in any other context, really— to zeroing in extremely on the couple’s very visceral woodland injuries. Furthermore, MacDonald subtly escalates the threat of bears in the woods to a suitably gorey crescendo after some early chilling encounters along the way that had our audience squirming in their seats. If MacDonald is aiming to do for the woods what Open Water did for the ocean, he pretty much succeeds, with the added cringe-factor that a bear’s leftovers don’t get washed away in the tide…