Black Wood

• Written and Directed by Chris Canfield
• July 26, 2022

A Native American woman hides from a group of outlaws by going into the Black Wood Forest and must help each other fight an ancient evil.

I never heard of Black Wood until putting some random queries into Google. Being the time of year that it is I wanted a horror oriented Western. Anyway, being intrigued I gave it a look. The first thing that struck me was the quality of the production. Not the most expensive movie, but they made the most of what they had. One thing that can harm any film is reaching beyond their financial grasp.

As for the characters, these are hard and dangerous folks yet not so damaged that you’re wondering how they function. They are strong characters that step up to a challenge or are the equals of those they are in the scene with. We have the Dutch Wilder Gang and a Native American woman (Tanajsia Slaughter) who are on equal footing based on skill.

The woman-Dowanhowee-is the most heroic of the cast. She runs afoul of the gang when she kills one of their members and takes his horse though it is later revealed he took it from her. Her goal is to get back to the infamous Black Wood where her people fled from. I am not sure what inspired this journey. Personal trauma? A spiritual calling? Boredom? Maybe all three?

The leader of the gang Dutch (Bates Wilder) is way more thoughtful than those he runs with. He is not just an intelligent villain but a relatively nice guy in comparison to the rest of his gathered thugs. While I liked the character I could not understand how he was able to keep these very different people with him. But it does help explain how he was able to get along well enough with Dowanhowee to fight the threat.

The threat? Wendigo (David ‘Shark’ Fralick)-not a creature that gets used much. Once that enters the movie this becomes a bit like Predator. Our outlaws having been hired to chase away some prospectors find themselves in an area without all the facts and dragging around a woman that knows more about what is going on than they do. Not that copying one of the best is a bad thing.

This is much more of an action film than it is a horror film. Despite the limitations of the production, it is rather exciting. They do enough to make you care about what happens to the characters and to create a convincing situation. The flaw is in the wendigo makeup which was generic. I am not sure what it was meant to communicate. Certainly not feral or monstrous. It looked like Pooh from Blood and Honey sans ears.

I like that they keep a language barrier between Dutch and Dowanhowee. They can’t instantly overcome their differences and work together. It’s an understanding that needs to be achieved by action and it does happen. You can see the path to connection.

It’s all about the main characters trying to survive. Writer/director Chris Canfield really milks it. He gets a lot of mileage out of the elements with the creature and the tension among the characters. There is some bigotry but it doesn’t lead to ridiculous stupidity.

Not necessarily frightening but from an action perspective Black Wood is a solid choice. Good enough for the Halloween season.