The rest of the film involves three barely qualified individuals heading into the wilderness and crafting a few shadowy scares (including cheap, early jump-scares of strange sounds coming from…their motorhome bathroom! Wonder what that could be?), and posing pretty until they become fodder for the next woodland massacre.
What the makers of Rootwood failed to grasp was the authenticity that made The Blair Witch Project resonate. The characters in that film felt like scrappy filmmakers, where there is not a moment in which any lead displays an iota of credibility. Their opening podcast banter sounds stilted and unimaginative (especially for one called The Spooky Hour). Their excursion into the woods looks more like a glamping trip to Coachella, and their attempts at humor are weak (“Can you help with my luggage? I just had my nails done.” and more than one gag about “taking a dump”).
“…vacillate between ‘found footage’ and ‘feature‘ styles…”
There is not a moment of dialogue that feels spontaneous or genuine. Will says on camera: “I’m here with Erin, Jess and myself” (that’s good to know what you showed up for yourself, Will). Characters will randomly state, “I’m heading to bed,” under the blaze of the afternoon sun, so we have no sense of time other than random title cards displaying what day of the shoot we are on. Perhaps the most egregious is the decision by director Marcel Walz to vacillate between “found footage” and “feature” styles, which essentially takes us out of any sustained tension every time. Neither is distinguishable enough from the other, except for a bright red “REC” display, so the result is jarring at best. When filmmakers do not fully commit to a world, they are crafting. It’s even harder for the audience to follow.
We’ve already been treated to a modern-day rehash of Blair Witch in 2016 as well as countless lesser imitators. You can add Rootwood to that pile of cinematic tinder (Hollow, Moth, Willow Creek, The Frankenstein Theory) and watch it burn away into the ash heap of forgotten found-footage flicks.
"…their excursion into the woods looks more like a glamping trip to Coachella..."
I really liked the ending on this one and the creature was awesome. The characters themselve talk about “glamping” in one scene so I think this was done intentionally. x)) But yeah, it’s not the best film, but to be honest… also not the worse. Like a 5/10.