Don’t let the clichéd premise of friends wandering into a forest only to encounter a horrifying creature fool you, writer/director Marcel Walz’s woodland horror feature, Rootwood, is an indie movie that offers a rare practical effects monster, has quality production, as well as solid acting from its cast of mostly horror genre vets. Co-starring the likes of Sarah French and Felissa Rose, who I know and love from Strip Club Slasher (2010) and Victor Crowley (2017), respectively, Rootwood is reminiscent of earlier and far greater found footage movies — something like a west-coast-millennial makeover for the Blair Witch Project.

Rootwood follows two paranormal podcast co-hosts and friends, William (Tyler Gallant) and Jessica (Elissa Dowling), who are hired by a Hollywood movie producer to make a documentary about The Wooden Devil, a cryptozoological urban legend. Enlisting their friend Erin (Sarah French) as their cameraman, the trio sets out for Rootwood forest armed with a camper van and cameras. After beginning their investigation with a hike into the woods, the crew soon finds graffiti and ritual setups that look to be from a cult, but before their investigation is through, they will find evidence of something even more dangerous and sinister. Director Marcel Walz did not just settle for a straight-up found footage film, and it paid off. With a story about three friends going into the woods to find a monster, Rootwood very easily could have been another caught on tape jaunt into the woods — Willow Creek or Blair Witch anyone? — however, this is a theatrical film.

Some of the movie splices in found footage type cinema, but this didn’t quite add a scary or even intense effect that I think they were going for. Overall, the film’s misstep was with the writing, which seemed lazy by it having characters act unnaturally and make silly decisions. The dialogue suffered, and at times, so did the storyline as it is obvious some plot-points were glazed over in order for the film to be able to move forward. When characters make stupid decisions for the sake of continuing the movie then they deserve to die, and there is certainly a dummy or two in Rootwood. What’s also unfortunate is that there were opportunities for gore but there was not even a suggestive splash of blood or some chunk of flesh slashed off of anyone — when you are producing a creature feature and your tagline is “Welcome to the scariest place on earth” having no gore is definitely a wasted opportunity.

I do commend Walz for not showing the monster in full light until the end, and the practical effects for the swamp-thing creature looked pretty good, in fact, it is a well-done example of a “suitmation” makeup as seen in the early Godzilla films. It is well-produced for an indie film, and the performances from a handful of the cast are fun to watch, particularly when Elissa Dowling rushes in to save the entire movie during the film’s climax. Screenwriter Mario von Czapiewski and director Marcel Walz create a very twisty-turny ending that bucks expectation at least twice as to what/who the real killer is, making up for the sleepy pacing in the earlier parts of the film. I was surprised to find there were not really any jump scares because this movie could have used a well-placed one to build some tension and atmosphere, but nothing ever quite spiked my fear meter. This movie definitely needed an on-screen kill to bring some legitimacy to calling Rootwood a horror, but at best, it is an indie creature feature that is watchable, but also, passable.

It is almost always a sign of lazy writing, and therefore, a dead giveaway that I am not going to enjoy a movie when the cold opening turns out to be the ending scene of the movie. While the first two acts are relatively slow-paced, the final act does pick up on some thrills and some creepy and cinematic shots; depending on what kind of viewer you are, you would be in for either a darkly surprising, or, a silly Scooby-Doo ending. I’m always a sucker for a twist in a narrative though, especially one that doesn’t poke holes in the story, which Rootwood succeeds at. Also, I do believe in the actors, who played their character types as authentically as possible, and Elissa Dowling was an excellent scream queen. Released by High Octane Pictures, who as of late has been cranking out horror and thrillers, the creature-feature Rootwod is now available via VOD and DVD.

MOVIE RATING — 5 out of 10 ☠️