As a rule of thumb, experimental films are far less expensive, which is probably why they aren’t produced in very large numbers. Nevertheless, whatever is lost in film quality is made up for with the unique storyline and creativity of the director and other artists involved in the process. Such is the case with A Stranger In The Woods produced, written and directed by Jozef Gallai. He has managed to depict the storyline of the film by using the classical elements of horror films and some other interesting techniques to illustrate the story.
Edith (Laura Ellen Wilson) is a student who has a senior project, which is to interview an interesting life individual as a subject in her project. Her teacher introduces her to one of the students who lives alone and secluded in a house by a lake, which is surrounded by woods; the man’s name is Victor Browning (Bill Oberest Jr.). Upon her arrival, one would expect there to be many things, but he is not one of them. He is, however, still a bit of an eccentric and odd type of fellow.
I have to say, the writer director has some cool techniques and styles in telling this story. One such technique is the use of night vision when the central character is groping her way in the dark to search for a stranger she saw outside the house. Another such style is that he incorporates phone calls and video calls in order to convey some information to the audience. But the best of them all, in a stroke of genius, is the police dispatch call with the dispatcher talking with a few cops.
The guy in the house is rather peculiar. First he complains how he is not who he is in an almost joking manner and then acts out during breakfast one day already too far gone to care about anything and starts throwing the dishes down slamming them into the ground. Seems like he was not a fan of the dish his host had prepared for him. It’s clear he has certain tastes which we assume she didn’t know about in advance. These such events have therefore made the primary character realize not only what the case is but also the fact that it’s quite an unusual one.
A similar case is the genre of Andrei Voitovich’s movie A Stranger In the Woods which is akin to A Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity or Skinamarink. It really manages to cultivate that specific environment introduced in the previous films. I’m sure the budget must have been minimal and so must the resources to generate the stimulating environment both behind and in front of the camera. Aggali casted his movie with people no one really knows and that too did not take away from the technical aspects of filmmaking in fact quite the contrary.
The blocks complete the work as they take the movie home. The docudrama allows the spectators to get more acquainted with its characters than they had done at that point in the film. The background of the two characters was fascinating and made me think where this story could head. No spoilers though, but all those little things are there to be noticed by the viewers. This story is a typical story of a creature of the night, only approached in an experimental manner with a docudrama perspective.
A Stranger in the Woods fuses together to form a Haunting tale of this woman with the subject matter of the documentary. Video calls, night vision and a police dispatch telephone call also combine to make an interesting experimental film. The cast whom Americans are not used to was quite useful in establishing a pretty dark and ominous mood. Overall this was a good movie take into account the difficulties which Gallai had in making this film. I wish the audience finds it as interesting as I did.
For more movies like Stranger in the Woods visit 123Movies.