Of course I had never even heard about this 2023 movie titled "The Astral Woods" prior to stumbling upon it here in 2024. And with it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to sit down and give writer and director Issac Rodriguez's movie a fair chance.

The storyline from writer Isaac Rodriguez was adequate enough, though the narrative was somewhat slow paced, and that sort of made sitting through "The Astral Woods" a bit of a test of wills. There are elements to the storyline that really prove to be interesting, just a shame that the narrative was so monotonous. You have to sit through about half of the movie, up to the point with the sequence of odd flashing lights, before things start to pick up. And by then, it was sort of too little, too late.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but I will say that the acting performances were good. Leading actress Alexandria Payne (playing Liz) and leading actor Marvin Ritchie (playing Shawn) definitely carried the movie quite well. The movie has a very, very small cast ensemble, so there was additional pressure on the actors and actresses to perform well and carry the movie, and they did so effortlessly.

The cinematography throughout the course of the movie was good. There was lots of nice shots and great locations in the forest, and director Isaac Rodriguez seemed to have an eye for capturing that, adding to the overall mood of the movie.

All in all, not an overly bad attempt at a movie, but personally I wished that it would have been a bit more eventful.

My rating of "The Astral Woods" lands on a four out of ten stars.

The title of THE ASTRAL WOODS refers to a remote forest area where people are taken who decide to have a shadowy group help them commit the following insurance scam: disappear for 7 years, and then the insurance will pay out handsomely.

The movie follows a couple for whom the wife initially agrees with reluctance but then withdraws her agreement at the last moment to participate in the scam and is then essentially forced by her husband to go through with it. There are early hints that the group that helps them is not human.

I have seen several movies by director Isaac Rodriguez, including DEADWARE (2021), THE LAST RADIO CALL (2022), A TOWN FULL OF GHOSTS (2022) and MR. CREEP (2022), and I have to say, this is the most mature horror feature by this still young director so far. It is no longer the work of a horror movie maker but of a horror auteur.

All of those prior films were found footage horror films whereas WOODS is not, but that is not primarily what sets it apart, in my opinion. Rather, it is the originality.

In fact, I like found footage movies a lot, and while there are many crappy ones, the best examples can provide a vicarious experience that narrative features can barely match.

Each of the previous movies contained plenty of original elements but still leaned noticeably on prior landmark works: for example, MR. CREEP had echoes of Jason Voorheis/Michael Myers, and GHOSTS had echoes of THE SHINING (1980). But WOODS reveals creative originality at a different level. I hope this will continue with his future works.

The story is fresh, the production design is good, and Rodriguez self-assuredly uses unusual cinematic techniques to convey certain plot elements.

The movie also raises deep philosophical questions about life, death and time, which I liked, albeit it makes only perfunctory attempts to answer them.

The small cast acted well, and while many of the special effects were breathtaking, a couple CGI effects (an explosion and a headshot) looked incongruously amateurish.

Also, it may be of note that WOODS joins a spate of recent good horror movies with a strong black female lead, such as US (2019) and BARBARIAN (2022).

People who like horror movies that are different or cerebral are especially likely to enjoy this film.