Description

Vicious bullying leads to the suicide of a timid inmate at the Moorgate Young Offenders Institute. Authorities who had been all too willing to turn a blind eye in the past are now forced to take action in the most visible way possible. Their solution is to pack up everyone who had resided in the dead boy’s dorm – an assembly of violent sociopaths, repeat sex offenders, white-power skinheads and armed robbers - and send the entire lot "outward bound" to a deserted island for a part of their sentence. This in itself might not be so terrible, but the juvie criminals walk into a situation that is worlds more punishing than any disciplinary board could ever have concocted. Someone else is on the island with the prisoners. Someone very, very sadistic. From the gruesome ingenuity of his attacks, it would appear quite likely that this person has had extensive military training. Even worse, this man seethes with a mean streak both wider and crueler than anything his prisoner prey can muster. Through a series of terrifying acts, the hunter makes it absolutely clear that he was a friend of the dead inmate’s. And that the terminally tormented teen’s blood will be repaid with theirs… in rivers.

Equal parts Deliverance, Friday the 13th, S.C.U.M. and Lord of the Flies, this intense, smartly-scripted survivalist slasher adventure film will bungee-drop you off the edge of your seat and bash your skull into crimson mountain sludge. UK filmmaker Michael J. Bassett, along with his eclectic ensemble cast (which includes The Descent’s Alex Reid and Dog Soldiers’ Sean Pertwee), has made something truly sensational: an engrossing genre hybrid that plays against conventions to deliver a consistently surprising avalanche of ferocity. Although shot with a proper budget and seasoned cast, this is nonetheless guerilla filmmaking in a most literal sense. Actors and crew were forced to work under grueling environmental conditions throughout the film’s Northern Ireland shoot, lending much to the primal energy on-screen. This is Bassett’s second full-on genre film following his atmospheric World War 1 shocker Deathwatch. With Wilderness , he has proven himself to be a major talent in the new wave of British horror cinema. No wonder New Line tapped him to helm the sequel to this year’s The Hills Have Eyes.

—Mitch Davis

Credits

Director: Michael J. Bassett
Screenplay: Dario Poloni
Cast: Sean Pertwee, Alex Reid, Tobey Kebbell, Stephen Wight
Producers: Robert Bernstein, John McDonnell, Douglas Rae
Distributor: Ecosse Films