WILDERNESS

UK, 2006, 110 minutes, Colour.
Sean Pertwee, Alex Reid, Toby Kebbell, Stephen Wight, Ben Mackay.
Directed by Michael J. Bassett.

For decades, the old story of The Hounds of Zaroff has been retold, adapted and retold. Wilderness is yet another version, a rather grim version at that.

It opens with some bullying in a prison for young adult offenders. This leads to a suicide and the whole group transferred to a remote island where they have to undergo some physical duress and camp out for character building – the latter is beyond five of the six who go to the island, very unsympathetic types. They are under the command of Sean Pertwee in a role not dissimilar to his character in Dog Soldiers where a military squad go out into the Scottish forest and are picked off by werewolves.

Two women prisoners and their commander are also on the island.

In no time, they are pursued, brutally killed one by one and the terror brings out the worst in the sadistic and something of the best in the one character who wants to improve himself.

There is certainly high tension, but there is an arbitrariness about some of the killings (especially the sympathetic women’s officer punished beyond reason). And there are several over-gory sequences and close-ups for a lot of audiences. (The acting is not the best either.)

1. The theme? The treatment? Prisoners? Punishment? Revenge?

2. The classic story of the Hounds of Zaroff? The victims, the mastermind, the animals, the pursuit, the deaths? An updated version of this archetypal story?

3. The tone of the film, cruel, the victims, the savagery, the gore and the grisly nature of the killings? Justified for this kind of interest and entertainment?

4. The prison setting, the island, isolation, the forest, the stream, the cliffs, the coast? Authentic? The use of the location for an atmosphere of terror and horror? The musical score?

5. The prison, the young men, the clashes amongst themselves? The dormitory, interactions? Their bullying David? Lindsay and his being a victim? Hiding in the cupboard, being dragged out, urinated on? Jed and his being in charge? The suicide of David? The arrival of the governor? David’s father, his condemnation of the group?

6. The personalities, Steve, psychopath, brutal, short, leading Lewis? Jethro and his being black? Lindsay and his being persecuted? Lewis as a follower? Callum and his arrival, sullen, the treatment of the other men? The interactions with Jed? His answer to David’s father?

7. The decision to send them to the island, going together, the bravado? Camping? Setting up? The suggestion of a presence on the island? The encounter with Louise and the girls? The reason for their being there? Jethro and his going to the water, fearful, his death? The discovery that he was dead?

8. The reactions, fears? The group banding together? Lewis and his relationship with the girl? Jed and Louise and their leadership? The gruesomeness of Jed’s death? Louise and the struggle with the dogs, going over the cliff? Her surviving? Her giving the warning, her throat being cut, the impaled head?

9. The girls, their fears, the girl and her dependence on Lewis? The girl and her following Jed? Lewis and his defence of the girl, Steve’s jealousy? His contempt for the girl, her being strung up, her death?

10. The other men, their being stalked, fears, Lindsay and his staying behind? The fearful boy and his trying out his sexual prowess, fear of death? Dying? Lewis and Steve, the clash, Steve killing Lewis? Steve and his fears? The final confrontation with the killer, Steve trying to shift blame, his death?

11. Lindsay, being tied up, his being in league with the killer? His being abandoned?

12. The killer, the father, his SAS training, his ability to stalk the group, concealment, camouflage? The confrontations and his motivation?

13. Callum, his explanation of his life, wanting to do better, the death in the reformatory? His leadership, with the girl? The boat – and Steve and Lewis trying to escape? His final confrontation with the father, the fight, wounding him, his death?

14. The two escaping, on the boat – a new life?

15. The brutality of the film – yet the issues of prison, justice, punishment, revenge, leadership?