In the Deep Woods

Back to back, from one decent TV thriller ('Through the Eyes of a Killer') to somewhat another. Yeah somewhat. I'm kind of lukewarm on it. 'In the Deep Woods' had the ingredients for a tight, relentless and interesting thriller, but director Charles Correll's sinuously pedestrian handling and Robert Nathan and Robert Rosenblum's material (adapted from Nicholas Conde's novel) piles on the red herrings and all too convenient developments. By being a knotty plot, it keeps you off balance and never strikes me as predictable. It's just hard to believe some incidents, as some things that occur just had me thinking "Oh, why?". Everything seems to move at a snail's pace, but you stay with it because you want to know how it'll pan out. There's a few effective suspenseful sequences and a very dreary tone streaming through it, but there's just too many generic and replicate patterns. Its well shot, edited and leanly scored. This would be Anthony Perkins last role, and it's a blank performance (just think of his failing condition), but his stable presence eventually wins out. The perky Patricia Arquette is suitably fine in the heroine role. As for Will Patton, he looks lost at sea with his character.