Tediously paced at times it overcomes this with nerve-racking tension in a story though set during the English Civil War is fresh and relevant in today's times.Two soldiers on opposite sides during the English Civil War (1644) find themselves alone against each other in the forest. But they soon become suspicious they are not the only ones in this forest and that other one is a witch preventing them from getting out of the forest. Trust comes hard but fear and suspicion come easy.
Made for a staggering (wink) £1000, that's just over $1300 for us yanks, what these filmmakers have accomplished on a budget that wouldn't even buy lunch for a Hollywood film crew is simply outstanding. The use of lush woodland scenery, re-enactment period costumes and props, austere ruins and three top of their class actors imbues this film with quality components.Up front, what doesn't work for Hex is tedium in some of the scenes, especially the nighttime scenes and not being well lit adds to it. It's just my feeling that having trimmed the running time of this could have improved upon it as it is a bit long for what could be an hour long Outer Limits episode.
What does work for the film is tension and story. From the first encounter of the two soldiers culminating in a brutal fight, which makes one wonder if some of the blood might be real, to a cat and mouse game between the soldiers early in the film. Even as the film progresses reality and fear are often indistinct for the soldiers, as well the viewer. As much the soldiers fear the witch of the forest heightening their paranoia, even beyond that is the unsettling sense they might turn on each other at any moment.
What brings the story freshly into modern times is smartly using the English Civil War as a backdrop: most basically a war between political opposites the Royalists who sought to maintain a 'divine right' in leadership and the Parliamentarians who opposed a monopolistic monarchy and church. Congruency aside, even more germane in the face of xenophobia, building walls and decayed credos is the rallying of distinct nationalities under a greater fear and hatred of another through a cloud of unknowing.
Despite some slowness in the film at places and dark nighttime scenes overall it is well done. A complete story that works as a whole gets my basic recommendation. But this additionally has rich dialogue, taut direction, beautiful cinematography and some of the best audio capture I've heard that captures every distinct sound, as well what lies beneath the story is thought provoking.My Rating: 3 Fingers Plus. That's 7/10 for IMDbers. With some editing I would have easily gone with 4 Fingers on this as it is a very good story.
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