“Backwoods” or “GEEK” is a small, cheap and rather unknown representative of the horror genre, which can nevertheless be described as atmospheric and is initially apparently not ineffective despite, but in reality precisely because of, its rather moderate pace. The film spends most of its running time establishing its backwoods setting, which succeeds well, not least thanks to the extremely believable acting of Dick Kreusser. You probably still need a strong love for this genre to like Backwoods so much. Compared to the miserable reviews in the various film databases on the Internet, I find Backwoods beautiful precisely because of its unspectacular nature, especially since it goes perfectly with the hinterland subject, as does the out-of-time quality that the Backwood genre always focuses on aptly reflects the banality with which misfortune sometimes breaks into life. Backwoods is certainly not a great moment in its genre, but it is one of those small contributions that I am happy about (re)discovering and that also contribute to the construction of the genre as such.
Karen (Christine Noonan) and her doctor friend Jamie (Brad Armacost) take a bike ride into the Kentucky backcountry for a romantic weekend camping. They meet Hillbilly Eben (Dick Kreusser), whose daughter Beth Jamie, who had an accident, saves her life with a courageous tracheotomy. When the couple accepted the invitation from the odd hillbilly, they had no idea that they would soon make an uncomfortable acquaintance with Eben's degenerate son, William. His father keeps him in a wooden crate because he has the unpleasant habit of biting off small animals' heads ...