In 1987, a group of counselors accidentally unleashes a decades-old evil on the last night of summer camp. As the mayhem and madness turn bloody, the staff of Camp Briarbrook is forced to confront which secrets are worth keeping. A film by Erik Bloomquist, starring Cara Buono, Clare Foley, Spencer List, Tyler Elliot Burke, Ehad Berisha, Michael Park, Dan Leahy, Giselle Torres, Sienna Hubert-Ross, Adam Weppler, Emily Keefe, and William Sadler.

In 1987, on the final day of children’s summer camp at Briarbrook, a family-run camp owned by the McCallisters, Shawn (Tyler Elliot Burke) tries to reason with his reckless younger brother, Peter (Spencer List), who believes he can do anything without considering the repercussions of his actions.

As Heather (Cara Buono) discovers Peter’s lie about helping Shawn fix the bus, she and Shawn argue. However, Heather sides with her younger son, which causes Shawn to accidentally reveal that their grandfather Gilbert (William Sadler) is retiring and needs Peter to grow up and take responsibility. Heather confronts Gilbert, demanding to know why he told his grandson about his retirement but not her, his own daughter.

That night, as Shawn drives the bus to send the children home, the young camp staff gathers around a campfire, awaiting the delivery of pizza. Peter, believing it would be fun, convinces the others to conjure the spirit of Agatha, a nurse who was banished from Briarbrook 42 years ago for her malpractice and died in the woods, becoming a cautionary tale for campers. Peter thinks he has found a way to bring Agatha back, but he doesn’t take the story seriously, believing it to be a fabrication to scare children from wandering the camp at night. However, Agatha is real, and she is awakened, hungry for revenge on those who disturbed her eternal slumber.

Erik Bloomquist’s horror film SHE CAME FROM THE WOODS, based on the 2017 award-winning short film of the same name by Carson and Erik Bloomquist, fails to live up to its promise. The film’s runtime is bloated with irrelevant dialogue, some of which is cringe-worthy, and the pacing is uneven, with several dragging moments that could be trimmed.

The film’s atmosphere evokes classic 1980s slasher films like FRIDAY THE 13TH, with its lakeside setting and supernatural elements reminiscent of EVIL DEAD. The script keeps audiences guessing about the evil entity’s motivations and capabilities: Is she a spirit? Does she possess others or have her own body? What are her powers? Can she be killed with conventional weapons?

I am impressed by the filmmakers’ use of shadows to convey the backstory without resorting to a flashback montage. Though overall entertaining, the film is not particularly memorable, and the story contains some questionable inconsistencies.

The creepiest scene for me is the one in which Gilbert receives a call in the middle of the night from Shawn, who tells him that Peter performed the ritual and something bad is happening. How could Shawn know about the ritual? He had left the camp earlier on a bus full of children. I initially suspected that the evil nurse had impersonated Shawn’s voice to lure Gilbert back to the camp, but this was not the case. Unfortunately.

SHE CAME FROM THE WOODS had its world premiere at FrightFest on 2 August 2022. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 10 February 2023.