Movie Review! Animal

When I first saw the trailer for this movie (in what seems like eons ago), I remember how excited I was to see it when it was released.  Flash forward to my scrolling for new movies to watch, and you can imagine how excited I was to see Animal available!  What better film to watch with my morning meal!  And I have to say, I was not disappointed in the least.

The standard set up:  a group of friends decide to spend the day hiking in the woods on an old trail that siblings Jeff and Alissa used to frequent as children with their family.  Add to the cast their significant others, with the oddball friend thrown in, and we have a nice walk in the woods in a closed off area of the forest.  After spending too long hiking one way, when they finally decide to head back to the car, the sun has fallen and they argue as they trek through the woods.  It doesn't take long for them to stumble upon something feeding in the dark, and the five hightail it through the woods as they try to escape.  When they spot a cabin in the woods, this is where it starts to get interesting.

There will be no spoilers here.  If you've seen enough horror movies you can probably guess who will wind up being the survivor in the end.  In these types of movies, I always have my wishlist but wind up being disappointed (this may also be why I like to write horror stories so I can keep my favorite characters alive and kill off the stupid ones first (but I digress...)).  What I really liked about this movie was the fact that nobody once tried to figure out what the creature was or why they were being chased.  It was all about surviving the night and that, my friend, was the most refreshing part of the tale.  Add to that the dynamics of the characters within the cabin, and we have ourselves an excellent horror movie with an ever growing body count.

This is definitely one of the best horror movies I've seen in awhile and one that I highly recommend.  I would classify this one as a keeper and when I find it on DVD, I will be owning it.  Until then, there is online streaming and I'll be sure to revisit it again and again.