Tuesday 26 August 2008

No.43 : Wild Country (2005)



Wild Country at the IMDb

When Glaswegian gym slip mum Kelly is pressured into giving up her baby for adoption she decides to go on a camping trip to cheer herself up - big mistake!

The group of three boys and two girls set off on their hike in the wilds of Scotland as their randy priest escort (Peter Capaldi) checks into the local B&B. Their first night under canvas is interrupted by the sound of a baby crying and they find the tot in an abandoned castle - along with the head of the local peeping Tom. They quickly realise that a monster is on the loose and try to flee, losing two of their number in the process.

They head back to the castle to set a trap for the monster and succeed in killing it, unaware that it’s got a friend - and now it’s pissed! We are now down to the single mum and her erstwhile partner and Dad is about to have his ticket punched! After another encounter that sees a farmer cut down to size our heroine makes it back to the B&B and to the disbelieving priest. He quickly changes his tune when the beast shows up and, it’s not looking good for the ever depleting cast.


This Scottish film looks like it was financed by the director taking back his empty Irn Bru bottles. The creature, a sort of big shaggy pig, looks ridiculous with its rubber face and is as about as scary as a 20p tax demand. The cast do try to play it straight, but many scenes raise an unintentional chuckle as the daftness level is cranked up. The young actors are uniformly awful, with the cheesy dialogue spoken as if it were a bible reading.

The big twist as the end made no sense at all and was only trumped by the sepia toned closing sequence, where the survivors head off into the sun set.

The one saving grace is the weedy 64 minutes run time - you may be short changed by the content but at least it’s not a waste of too much of your time.

Best Bit : Peter Capaldi is always good value

‘W’ Score 14/23

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