Alice Oscura – Featured Writer
Netflix’s Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight has been dubbed as the first Polish slasher flick ever made. It’s a heck of a lot of fun for an avid horror lover such as myself, especially if you happen to be a big fan of the slasher genre, as it’s an ode to the throwback 80s slashers like Friday the 13th.
The story takes place in a camp in the middle of nowhere forested regions of Poland. Teens who are addicted to technology and internet are sent here to help overcome their addiction. All of their electronic devices are confiscated and checked in upon arrival. Our attention is drawn to one girl in particular Ziosa (Julia Wieniawa-Narkiewicz), who’s extremely quiet and has an extremely sad demeanour. She immediately catches the attention of fellow camper Julek (Michal Lupa) who upon appearance looks like your typical nerd with a heart of gold.
Slowly but surely groups are put together with the purpose of hiking and experiencing nature in its rawest form in order to cope with their addiction. However, as with all horror movies of this particular genre, going into the woods is never a good idea. Especially when you’ve got a mysteriously, misshapen crazy killer stomping around in said woods.
The kills are reminiscent of the style of Jason Voorhees and succeeds magnificently in bringing back the gratuitous blood, gore and depravity of the 80s slasher flicks. This movie plays out like a love letter to fellow horror fans and I’d have to say that their release date timing is near perfect as it is just in time for the Halloween season.
You’ve got all the necessary ingredients in the use of familiar horror tropes that manage to excite the audience and not bore us with a mediocre version of repetition. I was pleasantly amused at the Terminator references and Julek’s warnings about all the dumb things that people in horror movies tend to do. Plus, we’ve got our “Final Girl,” the heroine that stands out from the group with what it takes to fight for survival.
Although it might be a bit predictable, we’ve got a likeable cast and a script that certainly delivers. It’s all sorts of entertaining!
If you are a horror fan you have definitely got to put this one in your line up of movies to watch for Halloween this year. Don’t miss it!
Alice’s Score: 7.5 out of 10
For a look back at iconic slasher film Scream you can click here. And for more than 100 horror film reviews and lists you can check out our horror section here.
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump.
I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. You can find me as Dark Alice Reviews on Facebook, my Instagram is alice_oscura and my Twitter handle is @lise_veliz2. For more on me you can click here.