within the first minute of the wood one can see that director lucky mckee and writer david ross be horror film geek that come of age in the video age of the 80 and feast their eye on film like dario argento suspiria and sam raimi evil dead series . this be a suspiria remake in anything but name and cross with some wood demon and bruce campbell to fight them . the picture be beautifully helm and mckee composition be often quite effective and moody and even if the overbear influence of argento masterpiece sometimes work against the wood . it influence be so blatant because ross recycles not only the basic plot and but even detail plot point such a the drugged drink . mckee follow suit by have numerous visual reference to that film and even copy whole shot . this can become a distraction for fan who be very familiar with suspiria though mckee give it enough of a spin for the film to not look like a lame rip off and more like an inspired let do it like in the good old day romp . the film have some pacing problem and though and most of which be link to the heavy foreshadowing . when a girl tell new arrival heather a spooky myth about the boarding school deep in the wood she have just arrive in and the avid viewer pretty much know the secret of the place and the main villain motivation and secret and can easily map out the proceeding from there . the second third of the film suffers from this predictability . the wood do pick up some steam towards the hour mark with the reappearance of heather parent and the first word speak by a formerly silent bruce campbell and who play to his adore cult follow once more here . the finale be a bit of a let down and though and even if the involvement of the titular wood be fun to see ( thanks also to some convincing cgi and not the second rate crap that often destroy the atmosphere in these small budget movie ) . it pretty much by the number and though it be enormous fun to see bruce don not call me ash campbell wield an axe and split some witch bitch open . the wood certainly isn not the most innovative movie of the world especially not if you have see suspiria but it be very well make and have some really efficient sequence and despite the absence of anything truly scary . consider the poor quality of the horror genre in general and this be a small delight for genre fan .