Writer/director Richard Waters’ feature debut, Bring Out the Fear, is a tense and psychological look at a couple’s breakdown as they’re consumed by creepy woods and their growing disdain for each other. This film is like a mix of The Blair Witch Project, The Evil Dead, and Possession, while still doing its own thing.

Rosie (Ciara Bailey) and Dan (Tad Morari) are at a crossroads in their relationship and decide to take one last walk in their favorite local forest. While Dan still clings to the possibility that the relationship can be saved, Rosie does not. Soon, something goes awry. They hear a cell phone continually ring but can’t locate it. Trees creak and whisper. Even the way dew hangs from gnarled branches looks frightening. No matter how many paths the doomed couple takes, they can’t escape the forest. The more stressed and trapped they feel, the more Rosie and Dan blame each other for the situation and for the failure to make the relationship work. They rehash past arguments and address personal demons, while something about the forest makes them relive some of their happiest and most painful moments together. They face both a supernatural presence and a relationship well past its prime. By the mid-point, the couple’s past and present blur together.

This feature is mostly a two-person show, and Bailey and Morari play their characters with an authenticity that carries much of the film. Each runs a gamut of emotions during the short runtime, too. Initially, their characters are kind to each other, but unravel as they fear they’ll die in those woods, stuck in some bizarre time/space loop. Bailey and Morari hit the right notes here, and their characters’ increasing desperation makes for an unsettling viewing experience. There’s a sheer realism to their undoing, and it’s at times tough to watch.

Steven Nolan’s hair-raising score combines with natural sounds, such as twigs snapping, to make the forest feel suffocating. Hallucinations and Blair Witch-like symbols add to all the strangeness. Waters enhances the disorienting experience through Sam Raimi-like low shots and dizzying overhead sweeps of the woodlands that make the forest feel inescapable. It’s not even clear what the couple needs to run from, or what’s haunting the woods. Yet, it all feels sinister and unrelenting.

Waters’ debut is a gritty and haunting portrayal of a crumbling relationship, enhanced by the performances, sound design, and camera work. Bring Out the Fear achieves several moments of pure tension and nightmare fuel as reality collapses around the couple. Here, the gorgeous Irish countryside turns menacing and monstrous, leading to an ambiguous final shot that warrants further discussion once the credits roll.

7 Out of 10