If You Go Into the Woods

The Woods (2006) is almost the perfect template for a girl-in-spooky-boarding-school movie. (See, for ex, Down a Dark Hall.) 

It starts with Agnes Bruckner setting fire to a tree in the forest, to the strains of Leslie Gore. Next we see her parents taking her to boarding school in a big old Buick - the movie is set in the 60s, although that's not really important. Her dad, Bruce Campbell, seems nice. Her mom, Emma Campbell (no relation?), is a piece of work who is dying to get rid of her. The school is a mansion set deep in the woods. The headmistress, Patricia Clarkson warns her not to go into those woods.

Bruckner tries to settle in. She makes a close friend of the Weird Girl, suspected lesbian Lauren Birkell. Popular girl Rachel Nichols bullies Birkell, but Bruckner stands up to her. The real spooky part is the dorm, where there is an empty bed. The girl who slept there had tried to kill herself. But she would be coming back when she is out of hospital. But Bruckner has already met her, in terrifying dreams.

She learns the history of the school from a couple of expository lumps - founded in colonial days, witches came out of the forest, took over the school from within, killed all the girls, etc. I wonder if there will be any truth to this old story.

Not to give too much away, the woods are evil, and the trees do grab a few girls. To give more away, Bruce Campbell comes to the rescue. Just in case you didn't get the Evil Dead reference with the trees grabbing people. 

I thought this movie was a lot of fun. Bruckner's evil mother and the teachers who were both strict and sympathetic gave the movie a nice psychology. The story moved right along, although the horror doesn't really kick in (outside of dreams) until the last act. It had a number of side plots that didn't go anywhere (Bruckner had telekinetic powers, which she never used) but added atmosphere. Ms. Spenser wasn't so kind - she thought it was mostly silly. Since she is the one who wants horror films on the queue, that was too bad. Better luck next time.

Also, the movie included 3-4 Leslie Gore songs. Since Ms. Gore was a closeted lesbian in the day, that may mean something. Or just some great songs.