nytimes movie review: backcountry

[tiptoe]

www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/movies/review-backcountry-a-wilderness-survival-thriller.html

The reviewer wasn't thrilled, to put it mildly. On the plus side, I doubt this film will send people in droves to the trail.

[nuknees]

Ha...restless night was up very early and bored and just watched this movie this morning! Based on a true story apparently, and if mostly accurate, did you see all the mistakes made by these folks? Beginning with not educating ones self about bears. About the importance of a MAP! About having a device to contact help - even though there is a possibility it may not work. About lets not make camp and equipment smell like a cafe.
About hidding in a tent - thinking there is somekind of safety in there! About panicing and just not using common sense. Would you rather fight off a possible attack from within your tent or would you feel you had a better chance outside of it? And I almost pee'd myself when she let loose with the bear spray 'inside' the tent! Big mistake!

[harmonjazzman]

Watched this last night. The blurb on Comcast said "Did for the woods what Jaws did for the water." I found the opposite. It made me want to get out into the forest again. ASAP! Agreed, their entire journey was riddled with mistakes. Also the depiction of bear tendencies was ridiculous. Regardless, if I'm looking for a movie to get me in the backpacking spirit during the off-season, this could be one of them.

[rickb]

I may rent it -- Look's to be on Amazon now but for a higher than regular rental rate.

It's getting good numbers on the tomatometer.

I did see it was filmed in Canada. While black bears an the AT represent virtually zero risk, I do recall weird and troubling accounts of them in Ontario's Algonquin Park (my favorite place for canoe trips growing up).

[rickb]

Watched this last night. The blurb on Comcast said "Did for the woods what Jaws did for the water." I found the opposite. It made me want to get out into the forest again. ASAP!

Made me want to go fishing.

IMHO, This may be a pretty good bad movie, but it should not be watched by most people. Certainly not by anyone you ever want to take hiking with you for the first time. Or even the 10th time.

The gear and costuming looks good though. But when are they actually going to fill an actor's pack up with real weight? Seems like every time someone lifts a pack in the movies it's filled with a pillow. That bothered me even more than the gore.

But seriously, don't be tempted to watch this one. Nothing good can come of it.

[harmonjazzman]

Made me want to go fishing.

IMHO, This may be a pretty good bad movie, but it should not be watched by most people. Certainly not by anyone you ever want to take hiking with you for the first time. Or even the 10th time.

The gear and costuming looks good though. But when are they actually going to fill an actor's pack up with real weight? Seems like every time someone lifts a pack in the movies it's filled with a pillow. That bothered me even more than the gore.

But seriously, don't be tempted to watch this one. Nothing good can come of it.

Hilarious!

[DLP]

On the plus side, I doubt this film will send people in droves to the trail.

I'll sleep just fine outside after seeing it... but it could freak some people out.

I watched it last night. I agree with everybody above... Gives a bad reputation to both bears and hikers. Makes bears look bad and hikers look stupid.

I didn't examine every bear killing in the last 100 years... but I couldn't find the true story this is supposed to be based on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._North_America

[rickb]

There was some good writing, I will admit.

Who among us has not had occasion to blame an innocent raccoon for theft of food (or at least night time noises) when in the company of our significant other?

Only hiker could have written that in.

[imscotty]

I finally watched this movie tonight....

Now my wife says she won't go camping with me anymore

[pilgrimskywheel]

FINALLY! A film for the aversive conditioning of would-be-hikers! A film which does not depict the trail as paved with Snicker Bars under an archway of rainbows, where hugs, hookups, and hiker-feeds abound. Ahhh, I feel like I've finally reached the next moldering privy!

DISCLAIMER: I've only just watched the trailer, so I won't be screening this picture until Mama Bear gets home with my honey. So, you'll just have to wait on the edge of your Star Trek Original Series Captain's Chair Replica until star date: tomorrow for yet another acerbic troll-baiting edition of "Pilgrim On Trail Films". Until then you have the conn!

I thought as an appetizer we might start with a top ten list of alternative titles for this movie. Warp drive - ENGAGE!

10. I started this hike with Frodo - then I met Strider!
9. I thought you had the bear canister.
8. Where's the next shelter?
7. Good thing we had that shakedown.
6. A compass on the A.T.?
5. Lost? Wait here.
4. Calling all trail angels!
3. Only a day hike.
2. Just section hikers.
1. Out of my trailhaed.

[bobfox]

Ha...restless night was up very early and bored and just watched this movie this morning! Based on a true story apparently, and if mostly accurate, did you see all the mistakes made by these folks? Beginning with not educating ones self about bears. About the importance of a MAP! About having a device to contact help - even though there is a possibility it may not work. About lets not make camp and equipment smell like a cafe.
About hidding in a tent - thinking there is somekind of safety in there! About panicing and just not using common sense. Would you rather fight off a possible attack from within your tent or would you feel you had a better chance outside of it? And I almost pee'd myself when she let loose with the bear spray 'inside' the tent! Big mistake!

This story was highly embellished to make it more sensational for the movie. It actually was a guy's wife who was attacked at a remote camp in Canada while he was nearby. There were encounters with a nearby bear the day or so before but he was chased away, possibly the same one. The bear got on the wife and despite the man trying to get it off of her and stabbing it with a Swiss Army knife, it kept attacking almost unaware of him but did attack him keeping the emphasis on her. When it did stop, the husband loaded her into their kayak nearby an eventually another boat with a doctor aboard but she perished before they got back to the landing.

[bobfox]

There actually were two hikers who had fought off a black bear an hour before not a day before.