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Lifetime Review: 'Terror in the Woods'

A pair of troubled friends take an urban legend too far in this excellently-handled film based on a tragic true story.

By Trevor WellsPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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For 11-year-old Rachel (Ella West Jerrier), starting at a new school is only the tip of her problems. With her mother and stepfather recently separating and her mother being too preoccupied with work to care for her, Rachel finds herself feeling lonelier than ever—not helped by the fact that her classmates treat her as an outcast. Her only refuge comes in the form of her tablet, which she uses to watch videos on the Suzerain, an online urban legend that has quickly become viral as several young people claim that he is real and has contacted them.

It's shortly after starting at her new school that Rachel meets Kaitlyn (Sophie Grace), a self-proclaimed "weirdo" who is similarly friendless and quickly begins to form a tight bond with Kaitlyn. The girls bond over their shared interest in the Suzerain, to the point where Kaitlyn begins to isolate her former best friend Emily (Skylar Morgan Jones).

Unbeknownst to Kaitlyn's parents, however, her odd behavior goes beyond typical childhood imagination. As Kaitlyn becomes more fascinated by the Suzerain, the strange voices and visions she's been seeing intensify to the point where she believes the Suzerain is appearing to and communicating with her. Convinced that the Suzerain is real and has chosen them to become his "underlings," Kaitlyn and Rachel come to believe they have to sacrifice a non-believer to the Suzerain in order to keep him from killing them and their loved ones. This culminates in a devastating tragedy that will rock the lives of Kaitlyn and Rachel's families--and open their eyes to something that had been happening before their eyes all along.

Based off the real life case of Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, two 12-year-olds who attempted to kill their friend Payton Leutner to appease fictional Creepypasta character Slender Man, Lifetime's Terror in the Woods is another entry into their catalog of True Crime Biopics. These are usually the types of movies I avoid; I come to Lifetime to be entertained by hot psychopathic boyfriends and evil long-lost twins, not be reminded of the horrors of real life. If I wanted to do that, I could just read Donald Trump's latest Tweets.

But in the case of Terror in the Woods, it's not exactly a biopic in the way you'd expect. Rather than advertising itself as a real life story, Terror in the Woods presents the real life events through fictionalized characters, making it a lot more palpable than being a straight forward rehash of a terrible event. Terror in the Woods also makes the right decision of not focusing too heavily on the actual stabbing act when it happens, instead focusing more on the buildup and, when the horrifying moment comes, the tragic reaction all three girls involved have to the act.

The film also makes the right call when it comes to casting, with Sophie Grace and Ella West Jerrier (this being film being both girls' feature length film debut) playing their characters with an awe-inspiring amount of complexity. The film's first act shows how emotionally vulnerable and damaged each girl is, highlighting how both were driven to their ill-fated obsession with Suzerain by their feelings of loneliness and neglect. The film also displays the possibility for both girls to be mentally ill, with Grace depicting Kaitlyn's fears over her increasingly unstable mental state with poignant accuracy. While their actions are still without a doubt horrendous, you can't help but feel it was a tragedy that could've been prevented had their parents been more vigilant over their children.

The other performances are similarly strong, with Skylar Morgan Jones giving a great performance as the innocent and sweet Emily, making her ultimate fate all the more heartbreaking. The assorted parents are also well-developed, showing that despite their obliviousness to their children's problems, they definitely want to be good parents and are trying as best as they can. Angela Kinsey's Dani has a particularly tragic scene with Kaitlyn's teacher over her struggles to raise her daughter while being the sole breadwinner of her family, showing in one brilliantly handled scene that for all of their shortcomings, the parents of Terror in the Woods truly are good parents who wanted to help their kids in the best ways they knew how--and who only realized their mistakes when it was too late to intervene.

Terror in the Woods may not be a film all viewers can sit through without wanting to shield their eyes, but it's certainly a film that delves into issues that need to be addressed now more than ever, showing what can happen when people are too afraid to speak openly about them. With a cast of strong actors and two young leads that are definitely going places, Terror in the Woods is a biopic all Lifetime biopics should strive to rise up to.

Score: 10 out of 10 fairy wings.

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About the Creator

Trevor Wells

Aspiring writer and film lover: Lifetime, Hallmark, indie, and anything else that strikes my interest. He/him.

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Twitter: @TrevorWells98

Instagram: @trevorwells_16

Email: [email protected]

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