May contain spoilers. Reader discretion advised.
Heart of the Beast might not qualify completely as a “spooky” movie–it depends on your definition.
A guy (James) and his dog (Odin) are stranded in the wilds after a plane crash. It’s passable as “spooky” goes. The movie itself is not as passable. It carried all of the survival movie tropes, including falling off the log bridge while crossing a river. You also leave feeling depressed (spoilers as to why you leave feeling a bit depressed). I gave it a 1 out of 5.
However, the first part of the movie reminded me of the book The Woodkin by Alexander James, which is why I add Heart of the Beast to a spooky shoutout.
In the book, the main character is hiking in the woods and runs across an old, seemingly friendly man who hangs out with him and sets up camp next to him. In the movie, James is in the woods and runs across an old, seemingly friendly man who hands out with him and sets up camp next to him.
In both, the man seems to come from nowhere and disappears later. Also, the boat the old man uses in Heart of the Beast is a whole level of creepy-spooky by itself. Why did he have a boat that looked like that? Along with other creepy decor, the boat featured a cow skull, which is a repeated image in The Woodkin.
Also, look at the titles of the works. Heart of the Beast and The Woodkin: both sound pretty creepy. Both give a suspenseful, monstrous air.
Finally, the main character in Heart of the Beast is named James while The Woodkin was written by Alexander James. Yeah, okay, in the movie James is his first name, but it is still spooky.
So, if you like survival spooky, you can check out Heart of the Beast; but if you like a horror story dealing with a guy alone in the woods being chased by a supernatural cult, read The Woodkin.
Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading!
Cover (featured) image generated by Google Flow.
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