Wild Country (2005) User Reviews

Wait for it... Wait for it... Wait...it's over?

[chris_leo_72 · 3/10 · 1 April 2006]

I am slightly biased in non-favor of this movie having actually seen it. Though it shows potential to have something vaguely resembling a plot, in the end, the viewer is left wondering whether or not the movie has actually started. Time was not an issue for lacking plot. Running at only 72 minutes, there was more than enough time to actually explain SOMETHING. Please explain something. That is why you make movies. The main character, Kelly Ann, could have been played by anyone with a Scotish accent and legs capable of running through random fields in Scotland for extended periods of time. Lee could be played by any semi- to moderately-attractive young male with a Scotish accent as well. Only running in his case was not a requirement. Much of this movie took place during the day time, which made the "wolf" one of the greatest comedic characters I have ever witnessed. And when I say "wolf" what I am trying to say is a half-boar, half mad cow fetus half-breed of UK craziness. (See 'Isolation' for reference and if you want to see a decent horror film from the UK.)

Awful and Senseless Plot Point

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 22 November 2014]

In Glasgow, the teenager single mother Kelly Ann (Samantha Shields) is forced by Father Steven "Steve" Gillis (Peter Capaldi) to deliver her baby boy for adoption. Six weeks later, Father Steve organizes a hike in the countryside with the youths David (Kevin Quinn), Louise (Nicola Muldoon), Mark (Jamie Quinn) and Kelly Ann and leaves them alone in the Scottish Highlands. He shows the meeting point in the map and tells that he would wait for them in an inn on the next day. Out of the blue, Kelly Ann's ex-boyfriend Lee (Martin Compston) joins the group invited by David. While hiking, the group stumbles with a weird shepherd (Alan McHugh) and later Lee puts the man on the run. During the night, Kelly Ann overhears the cry of a baby and she goes with Lee to a derelict old castle where they find an abandoned baby in the middle of dead bodies. Soon the group is hunted down by a deadly wolf-like creature and has to decide whether they hide or fight to survive.

"Wild Country" is a reasonable slow-paced horror movie with an awful and senseless plot point in the very end. The acting is decent and the Brazilian DVD has subtitles; otherwise it would be very difficult to understand many dialogs. The beast is not a werewolf and is not developed; therefore the viewer never knows what the beast is. Further, how a creature kills so many people without any investigation from the local authorities. The special effects and the cinematography are very poor. As usual in slash movies, there are stupid attitudes: Lee leaves the safety of the tree to be murdered by the creature and the farmer on the motorized tricycle does not listen to Kelly Ann and decides to check what is happening. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Campo Selvagem" ("Wild Country")

Horrible Looking Werewolves

[knightox · 3/10 · 13 August 2021]

It might have been a decent flick but those werewolf designs were some of the WORST I've ever seen! The creatures resembled huge pigs with ALF faces. Hard to take seriously without laughing! 😆

Monstrous...but not in a good way!

[happy_hangman · 2 March 2006]

We hear constantly that the British film industry is in crisis. Directors, producers and screenwriters, we are told, need to fight tooth and nail to get their projects on the big screen. We must, therefore, make every effort to support the domestic industry.

Watching Craig Strachan's bog-awful 'Wild Country' isn't just enough to make you lose faith in the judgement of British producers in allowing it to be made, it's likely to sap you of the will to live.

It truly is dire. The performances are wooden, the 'scary monsters' (allegedly werewolves, but more akin to giant moles wearing giant plastic Hallowe'en masks) feeble and unfrightening, the script tired, formulaic and hysterical in every way but the right one (it's not even preposterously histrionic enough to amuse, it's just a bad bad movie), the characters (if the term could be applied loosely enough to describe them) bland to the point of indistinguishability. Even the normally watchable Peter Capaldi is fairly awful.

I challenge anyone watching this rustic ruminance not to laugh out loud at the supposedly terrifying final 'shock'.

Awful. Unremittingly, irredeemably awful.

It could, of course, be a sophisticated ploy to encourage the Chav population to venture into the wild woods and be slaughtered, thus reducing the surplus delinquent population. That, I fear, credits those responsible with far too much subtlety.

As werewolf movies go, this makes 'Cursed' look like Shakespeare.

Unimpressed

[elfishpirat · 2/10 · 21 February 2010]

It is wonderful that a movie actually shows a woman breastfeeding a baby, but it's a shame that it was in this disaster. It was confusing and hard to follow. Throw in the bad acting and the hideous lighting and you have a train wreck. The ugly, fake monsters were the icing on the cake. With a budget of $1 million, you'd think they would be able to afford a bit more believable costumes/effects.

The basic plot of a girl giving up her baby for adoption, then finding an abandoned baby during a hike where she and her friends are then stalked by a murderous creature is interesting. It had so much potential with additional development. Unfortunately, this is where the director fell short.

Ridiculously Boring! Utter Garbage! Avoid at all costs!

[rajivness · 1/10 · 26 April 2012]

i hate this movie! it was godawful!

It disappointed on various levels!

1. No story 2. No Plot 3. No character development at all 4. A monster flick - but definitely not a werewolf movie 5. the monster looks absolutely fake and not believable at all - you can make out - its either poorly designed puppet or a guy in suit. 6. no back story to the monster

The movie should have subtitles since the actors all have really thick Scottish accents - which makes it extremely difficult to understand what the lot of them are spouting through the movie - at least for audiences outside of the UK - who cannot fathom what the heck the wurrdzz (words) that come owwttt (out) of the actors even mean!

I've never been so disappointed in a movie!

A pregnant teen gives up her child for adoption and then goes for a cross country trip with some friends - where she finds a baby in a castle ruins, picks it up not knowing that the baby is the monster's child. mama monster chases the group and kills 2 of the group. papa monster follows the girl - kills her stupid boyfriend who idiotically decides the jump from a tree knowing full well that the monster in nearby. papa monster kills some cattle and an idiotic cattle rancher who ignores the girls hysterically frantic warnings as well as 2 people in a nearby bed n breakfast. The girl has been breastfeeding the kid since the time she 'picks' him up. she mysteriously turns into a monster at the end of the movie and walks into the sunset with papa monster.

please avoid, avoid, avoid!

The people who claim this movie is any good are either friends or related with the director/producer/actors or just have no standards at all!

a potentially good movie gone bad

[miketaylor2007 · 1/10 · 11 March 2009]

Let me tell you something about this movie right now... it could have been a decent one if it wasn't for the actors. Not to say the acting was bad they were OK but its just the fact that they are all Scotish and when you are watching it the entire time its very hard to understand them with the strange accents. The storyline is kind of typical horror lover story some teenagers go out into the woods camping and find themselves being chased by a monster (im not giving away anything that isn't already on the back of the DVD). If you like these kind of horror movies I suppose you could check it out but im just warning you turn the subtitles on.... because even though they speak English, you could almost say they are speaking a foreign language! It is ridiculous!

An attempt was made...

[GregTheStopSign95 · 4/10 · 27 November 2023]

An attempt at what? I have no idea, but there's potential here. It's squandered pretty badly on a weak script and a terribly-realised monster.

The story itself has a lot of potential - a young (teen?) mother who gives up her baby for adoption later goes on a camping trip with friends and a preacher, and finds an abandoned baby. The friends are then all terrorised by a bear monster thing, kind of like the bear from Annihilation if it was imagined by early Doctor Who creature designers. A fitting comparison, really, considering the preacher is played by Peter Capaldi - the 12th actor to portray The Doctor.

The kids do an admirable job, really, and deliver their dialogue pretty well, and Capaldi is...watchable? I guess? I mean, he barely has any screen time, really, so it's hard to say...

The real 'star', though, is the monster...which is really badly realised. If they'd put in more effort with that, it probably would have elevated this movie by quite a bit.

Definitely worth watching

[videozombi · 7/10 · 8 January 2008]

Despite reading a few negative reviews on this movie I thought I'd give it a go tonight and I'm very glad I did. The only thing about this film that strikes me as a little off is that the werewolves look very different from anything I've seen before. Maybe even a little cheesy. However the acting, camera work, the story and the way the movie is put together all make up for it. The ending of the movie is perhaps the best part and for me a good ending makes or breaks a movie. I won't go into detail so as not to spoil the end of the film, but suffice it to say there is quite a twist and it did not end the way I was expecting at all.

The special effects are a little lacking at first but they greatly improve toward the end. One scene in which a werewolf virtually bites a man in half is especially well done and makes up for the lack of gore earlier in the movie. All in all the effects, perhaps (though I hesitate to say it) with the exception of the wolves are very well done. I hesitate because I'm still not sure if I liked the wolves or not, it was refreshing to see something different but at the same time as I said earlier, they seemed a bit cheesy. I'll likely watch the movie again soon and I think watching a second time around I'll probably decide I like the wolves and they aren't cheesy at all.

The film is loaded with the type of dialog and wit you would expect in a film from the UK and it all comes off very well. There are some tense moments and a lot of wondering what will happen next, I don't think it's truly scary but I do think it's a great werewolf movie. If your a fan of European horror you will definitely get into this movie and love every minute of it. It's movies like this that make me glad I root to dig up things that are out of the ordinary because even though a lot of the time you get disappointed, more often then not you come out of it smiling.

Surprisingly Great!

[icocleric · 8/10 · 29 September 2022]

I enjoyed this a lot more than expected, even though the special effects weren't great. I liked how the story was full of little surprises. Like when the priest played by Peter Capaldi, tells a local folk tale about cannibals. That's what I expected. Then it was a creature featue. Other surprises pop up too.

The acting was great too, and I really bought into all the characters. I also really appreciated that none of the characters acted dumb to forward the plot. They understandbly act like teenagers, but they're obviously doing their best in the situation they're in.

They want to stick together, but when the first character is picked off from the group by the creature. They pick up quickly that's what the creature was trying to do.

There's also lighter funnier moments in the film as well, and I thought it was obviously made with a lot of passion.

A very enjoyable Scottish film

[barriemcintyre · 6/10 · 16 March 2006]

I went to see wild country just over a week and a half ago and i must say i quite enjoyed it. its understandable that they couldn't do everything they wanted to do with the film considering the small budget of i think it was around about 1 million which is not a lot for a feature film. But apart from the kind of Ropey special effects and the pretty bad ending the movie as a whole was really good, with strong performances from Samantha Shields who was very realistic threw out the film unlike some of the other performances in the movie. Another person who really stood out in the film was the young Jamie Quinn who played the part of Mark, who at the start of the film came out with a few great one liners towards his brother and the two girls and made the part Mark a very believable character and shows that his career will not end with one feature film. Over all Wild Country is a very enjoyable and is a must see for all Scottish cinema lovers.

Barrie.

Decent, but lacking...

[ericmcmillan · 7/10 · 24 January 2010]

An interesting movie, but the ending was extremely rushed. The movie begins with a teen giving birth and is forced to give the baby up for adoption in a strict Catholic hospital. Set in Scotland and laden with heavy Scottish accents, making some of the dialog as indecipherable, the teen girl sets forth with some other teens (and the same Catholic father who forced her to give the baby up) on a camping trip only weeks later. The priest drops off the teens only to meet them at a designated point on their maps. The father of the child meets up with the teens and they begin their trek into Hell. Most of the "were"-wolf scenes were hokey, at most. Another review noted the monster effects were created by the same individual who created the "Dog Soldiers" werewolves (a GREAT movie), but he must have been on an extended holiday and was rushed for this picture. The real neatness of the movie relied upon the explicit gore of the victims. Limbs ripped off, throats ripped out, all of it appeared realistic. However, with a running time of only 72 minutes, the ending was rushed and much of the movie could have been better explained. The ending is totally expected and nothing is left for surprise. The characters are engaging enough for you to hold some pity on them, but none are memorable. I give the movie a 7 based mostly upon the high quality of gore.

Impressed

[joan-114 · 8/10 · 21 March 2006]

I am slightly biased in favour of this film, since part of it was shot at my farm. Having seen "Wild Country" from its very rough stage through to the final screening, I am very impressed, especially with the special effects, which were extremely well done, and with the quality portrayals by Martin Compston, Samantha Shields, Peter Capaldi and Karen Fraser. Even knowing the plot, I still held my breath at some scenes. The young actors put on very polished performances and Craig Strachan was a considerate but professional producer for such a cast. Scottish films are few and far between and this is a must see for Scots horror fans.

I liked it!

[jamie-500 · 9/10 · 8 March 2006]

I think Wild Country is a good film. It has something for everybody, it's comical in places, scary in others, it also has a touch of social realism and a little bit of a romantic story underlying.

If you appreciate hard working film makers you will appreciate this. The acting is natural and very convincing.

I like the way it's lit, it makes it more scary for it to be that dark because that is how dark it is in Scotland at night in the winter.

It's how realistic they made it that works for me, the actors act the way any normal teenager would act when faced with a beast in the out in the middle of nowhere. it's shot documentary style, with a "blair witch" feel at places.

I think the film makers did a good job and i hope the film does well so that more Scottish films can be made!!!

Kept me hooked

[moray-jones · 8/10 · 3 January 2011]

I really enjoyed this. Thought the actors were very naturalistic and pulled off their roles very well. This meant I stuck with the film to the end because I wanted to know the outcome. There were bad points - SFX should have been concealed by the dark more and it was too formulaic. Bold effort though and I expected to see a higher average, but there is some cheapness to be looked through. But in its own right, I was happy to watch and didn't find any slack. The actual horror was low because of this, but the tension was there. I've scored it high because I enjoyed it and wanted to see the end, whereas many glossier films I find myself just hoping that they will end.

Brutal and bloody British werewolf effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 9/10 · 9 April 2015]

Agreeing to journey into the Scottish highlands, a group of friends hoping for a relaxing camping trip stumble upon the ravenous werewolf hunting on the grounds and must find a way to stop the creature and get out alive.

This turned out to be a very enjoyable and exciting werewolf effort that has a lot to like about it. One of the better elements at work is the rather impressive atmosphere this works up, managing to take utterly spectacular effect of the location to provide a real sense of isolation and extreme discomfort. The setting out in the woods is indeed quite chilling with the rolling fog-banks and lifeless foliage before taking into account the abandoned, crumbling castle found in the area evokes a classic Gothic archetype that goes well with the discovery of the body-pit that undoubtedly adds to the feeling of unease found there since there's plenty of evidence for both suspense and shocks. This in turn allows the initial stalking in the woods all the more terrifying as it also manages to include the element of them fully aware that something is out there in the shadows and ready to come after them as the inhuman growling and snarling matches this quite effectively and their race to get away is all the more enjoyable. When the beast is fully revealed and really into the film is when this kicks off into high gear with all the endless running, chasing and stalking in the final half which not only manages to feature a ton of great gore and wounds for all the attacks but generates a slew of enjoyable action scenes including the race for shelter into the house which is the best among them here. This is also due in part to the fact that the werewolf here is of incredibly high-caliber, not only in design with a vicious, muscular-looking beast with a huge set of claws, massive jaws and a generally imposing appearance but also behavior with it being true to the image of the remorseless werewolf intent on feeding and nothing more so the savageness of it's attacks is also apparent throughout here. These here are really enough to hold off the film's lone problematic area which is the rather short running time here. Granted this tends to fly by the introduction of the characters which isn't all that important but it really tends to short-change the second half here by zipping through the attacks and chases so much so that it actually manages to get interesting about their quest to get out only to then end the film with a sudden halt and it feels a bit short here when it could've expanded some of the stalking and chasing a bit more to make up for it. Otherwise, this one was quite fun.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Extreme Graphic Language and Nudity.

fantastic!

[red_robin19 · 8/10 · 25 October 2007]

OK. I'm going to be a little bias here as Samantha Shields is actually a good friend of mine and i act with her quite often, but nonetheless i actually did enjoy the film! OK, so i've seen scarier horror's in my time and ...maybe i laughed a little at the special effects on this one, but with such a low budget they done OK.

As for the acting, well...iv'e only ever acted with Sami on stage before and so it's all been a little over the top as stage performances usually are, so to see Sami being so natural was amazing! the girl definitely has a natural talent for natural acting! She definitely has a bright future ahead of her! take me with you Sami!!