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Unwed teen Kelly Ann has just given up her baby for adoption. Coping as best she can, she sets out with friends on an overnight retreat in the Scottish countryside. What begins as a spiritual journey becomes a deadly fight for survival when the group discovers an abandoned baby – and the body of a man who has been savagely killed. Running for their lives, the terrified kids are hunted down by a hideous beast with a taste for teenage blood.

Written and directed by Craig Stachan, this horror film has its own flavor. Much takes place on location in beautiful Glasgow, Scotland. Director of photography Jan Pester captures the lovely green terrain and countryside as the teens begin their overnight trek through the rural region. Many shots look great, though a sense of cinematic urgency, always a requirement for a horror film, never reaches a compelling level.

For the most part, the characters actors are more natural than is typical; there are no stereotypes like the jock, the clown, the slut, and the ruddy final girl. The actors maintain strong, distinct accents and their bickering and interrelationships smack of reality. It’s notable that two actors who play brothers are truly brothers, Kevin and Jamie Quinn. And although his screen time is minimal, Jamie Quinn is by far the most interesting actor of the bunch; there’s a lot of subtext behind his worried face. All are sincere during their peril, although a few elements are definite head- scratchers.

While some have written that the entire movie makes no sense whatsoever, for the most part, the film is comprehendible. Admittedly, some nutty plot points disappoint. Good grief, where did the baby in the abandoned monastery come from? Are we really supposed to believe that? Would five youths be led out in the middle of nowhere for an overnight trek with a confusing map and no supervision? Half-way through the film, it is unbelievable that some of the survivors would knowingly return to the monster’s lair to spend the night. The forced ending feels too screwy and tacked on – it’s almost humorous. In fact, when the credits roll your jaw may drop if you think the film expects you to take it seriously.

Sadly, the monster of the film – a wolf-like creature – looks terrible. I was rooting for this underdog, after I read that many other viewers on the Internet Movie Database had torn apart the film and its bad-looking monster. Oh, well. Despite all the filmmakers’ hard work revealed in the disc’s featurette and the talented special effects designer, Bob Keen (Event Horizon), the monster is a stiff. But I guess Jaws was too, but Spielberg managed to make Bruce the Shark pretty scary. In Wild Country, only a few moments scare, and that’s as good as it gets.

The film has some interesting ideas, promising set ups with Kelly Ann and her friends, gore-as-promised, and a strong atmosphere, but it’s just not very scary. Still, with its very short run time of only seventy-two minutes, I found myself interested enough to watch it all the way through. If they’d taken the clunky monster out of the film and put in a human killer, the experience might have had more sweat and teeth. Then again, would that scenario be anything new? I guess not. This film might be a stark reminder that horror has been so played out these days that it’s hard to find a compelling story niche within the genre. Wild Country has its moments, but it could have been much better.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1 is presented in anamorphic video. Filmed in high definition digital, the film is incredibly clean. Colors are properly saturated for the dank atmosphere and contrast range is generally good. An intentional blue- tinge is added to the film and enhances the atmosphere very well. Shadow detail is slightly impeded, especially in the night scenes. The contrast ratio is generally good with whites that rarely bloom, and many shades of gray on display. While Jan Pester’s nice lighting and compositions look great, sometimes the dark gray backgrounds get muddy. The deepest blacks alternate between being as inky black as the widescreen bars and merely dark gray, like when the kids are climbing the monastery’s circular staircase. This is also a point when grain really kicks in (at 44 minutes), perhaps imager noise in low light. Otherwise, grain is very fine and well managed. Finely grained textures fair best only in the first act, during daylight scenes when the sun is shining on the young persons’ faces. Edge haloes are not too obtrusive and compression problems did not arise. The filmmakers were “going for a Super-16 mm look,” but it actually looks better than that, even though it doesn’t much look like film.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The disc includes a Dolby Digital stereo track, which is bland. Some effects exhibit discernable stereo, like an occasional crescendos, but that’s the best of it. Dynamic range is reasonably good and natural, but not too exciting. Dialogue is very clearly recorded. However, the strongest Scottish accents I have ever heard delivered with machine-gun rapidity made intelligibility a challenge; I was forced to turn on subtitles for the entire film (sigh). The bottom end is gingerly evident on occasion, but doesn’t plumb the depths. Sound recordist Becky Thomson and sound designer Savalas do a decent job, but they could have livened things up a bit with the sounds of the windy, wet exteriors and a bit more score. As I do with many stereo tracks, I engaged Dolby ProLogic IIx hoping to create some surround envelopment. The effect is tepid at best, but I preferred listening in this mode rather than the pure stereo.

No other audio track is offered. English Closed Captions and subtitles in English and Spanish are included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

There is a very good Making of Wild Country featurette (37 minutes). It includes extensive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the key actors, director Craig Strachan, effects designer Bob Keen (with green hair), and the producers. These folks worked hard to follow Strachan’s vision and put this film together. Despite those efforts, I don’t think they “get” the fact that their complicated creature just isn’t convincing and the ending is whacked-out. Regardless, it’s hard not to admire their labors.

You’ll find eleven minutes of Lionsgate trailers.

And although it’s not linked from the DVD, the film has a website with additional director’s notes, photos, and the like.

The 72-minute film is organized into seventeen chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.