Jason Horton wrote and directed "Monsters in the Woods," a film released in 2012 that cost just $30,000 to make. It’s about an independent horror crew encountering creatures in the Southern California woods while filming their own low-budget movie. I appreciated seeing a cast with diverse backgrounds; it was a nice change. However, the shaky camera work, which is often out of focus, became tiresome. There are some attractive women in the film too, and I found the monsters—a mix of spider and human features—to be quite frightening, especially given the budget (the reason for their appearance is eventually revealed). The beginning was pretty funny as it made fun of the difficulties that come with shooting a low-budget horror movie in a rural setting. Around the end of the first act, one of the main characters dies suddenly, and the reactions from the rest of the cast didn’t seem believable, though maybe that was intentional as some kind of joke. The second act brings in two unusual people who speak strangely, but at least the monsters are introduced then. Sadly, the story and the characters felt slow and unclear. Things got better in the final act with explanations about what's happening, but it wasn’t enough to redeem the film; it remains underdeveloped. There’s potential here for a decent monster movie, but Jason Horton needed more time to refine the script, particularly in the middle and later sections. George Romero did this when he made "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), which is still considered a classic today. The point is, don't go into the woods to film a horror movie with a crew, no matter how small your budget, until you have a well-thought-out and understandable story with compelling characters. Otherwise, you’re just wasting time—yours and anyone else’s who watches it. The film has a running time of 84 minutes and was filmed in Fawnskin, San Bernardino National Forest (for the outdoor scenes), and Malibu, California. Grade: C-/D+

Source on TMDB