The Woods

The Woods

Set in 1965 New England, a troubled girl encounters mysterious happenings in the woods surrounding an isolated girls’ school that she was sent to by her estranged parents. In 1965, after provoking a fire in a forest, the rebel teenager Heather Fasulo is sent to the boarding school Falburn Academy in the middle of the woods by her estranged mother Alice Fasulo and her neglected father Joe Fasulo. The Dean Ms. Traverse accepts Heather in spite of the bad financial condition of her father. The displaced Heather becomes close friends with weird Mary Turner, while they are mistreated by the abusive Samantha Wise. During the nights, Heather has nightmares and listens to voices from the woods, and during the days she believes that the school is a coven of witches. When some students, including Mary, simply vanish, Heather believes she will be the next one.

In 1965, after burning down a tree in her yard, rebel teenager Heather Fasulo (Agnes Bruckner) is sent to the boarding school Falburn Academy in the middle of the woods by her estranged mother Alice Fasulo (Emma Campbell) and negligent father Joe Fasulo (Bruce Campbell). The Headmistress, Ms. Traverse (Patricia Clarkson), accepts Heather in spite of her father’s bad financial condition. The displaced Heather becomes close friends with Marcy Turner (Lauren Birkell), while they are maltreated by their abusive classmate Samantha Wise (Rachel Nichols). During the night, Heather has a nightmare of a student named Ann, covered in blood, and hears voices that seem to be coming from the woods. The next day, Marcy tells Heather that Ann was taken to a mental institution after attempting to commit suicide, and that she’d been covered in blood.

With the help of Marcy, Heather eventually learns to adjust to her new school, even having fun at times and making more friends. Ms. Traverse subjects Heather to special tests to see if she is “gifted,” telling her that it is all part of her scholarship to the academy. The girls tell Heather a spooky story about the history of Falburn, which includes three young redheaded sisters who arrived at the school and turned out to be witches, killing the Headmistress before leaving the woods. Meanwhile, Samantha continues to torment Heather, who comes to despise her and fights back. Ann returns from the mental institution, and Heather finds her one day, rocking in her bed. Ann reveals that she is afraid she will be taken by the witches. She says she is cold, so Heather climbs on a trunk to try and close the open window over Ann’s bed. A low fog rushes into the room and knocks Heather down, twisting her ankle, and she is taken to the infirmary. The next day, Heather finds Anne’s bed empty, her place filled with dead leaves. She witnesses the Headmistress lying to the police about Ann’s disappearance, remarking that she is being taken care of.

This leads her to become suspicious and she tries to talk to Marcy about it. But Marcy acts strangely, and is shadowed by one of the teachers. Soon after, Heather finds Marcy’s bed empty and covered in leaves. Later, she is confronted in the woods by Samantha, who reveals that she has actually been trying to protect Heather with her antics. She tells Heather that the school is led by a coven of witches who want to take all of the girls away. Samantha explains that she has called Heather’s father to help her escape and that milk is poisoned. The girls are both caught by a school mistress, who promptly takes Samantha away. Samantha is later found hanging from a long noose in the cafeteria. When a police officer comes to investigate, Heather tells him of the missing students.  The officer confronts the Headmistress, but she claims that the girls ran away. Another mistress “leads” the officer into the woods to find the girls, where he is killed by the living vines of a tree.

Heather’s parents show up to take her home, though the Headmistress tries to persuade them otherwise. On the way home, their car is mysteriously flipped and Heather is knocked unconscious. Alice is dragged out of the car by a living vine and kicks Joe in the head, knocking him out. Heather and Joe wake up in a nearby hospital. Before they can reach each other, Ms. Traverse has Heather dragged away, then slits her own hand and forces her black blood down Joe’s throat, which puts him into a catatonic state. Heather returns to the school in despair. She drinks the milk that evening, but later vomits it back up, finding tree bark in it. Back at the hospital, Joe wakes up and vomits Ms. Traverse’s black blood, which also has tree bark in it. He quickly escapes and goes to find Heather. That night, Heather begins to hear voices again, and when she attempts to leave, a living vine captures her.

When she awakens, she is wrapped in vines in a large room, next to Ann and Marcy, who are also held captive. All of the teachers appear and reveal themselves to be witches. Ms. Traverse is their leader, and she explains that their spirits have been trapped in the woods all these years, and they need to inhabit the bodies of young women to escape their imprisonment. Heather appears to be the centerpiece of her plan because she has the strongest powers among the gifted students. Heather is coerced into completing the ritual, and the vines being to mummify all of the girls in the school. Before it can complete itself, Joe breaks into the room with an ax and begins to kill the witches. Heather breaks free from the vines and grabs the axe, proceeding to chop all of the witches into pieces. Heather and Joe then leave with all of the girls, walking down the road into the daylight as the school burns in the distance behind them. The end of the movie states that Falburn Academy burned to the ground in 1965, while the surrounding woods were strangely left untouched.

A teenage girl is drawn into the path of the unknown in this tale of terror. Heather (Agnes Bruckner) is a teenage girl whose father (Bruce Campbell) and mother take little interest in her. Heather’s parents enroll her in a private boarding school for girls located deep in a remote forest. Heather isn’t happy with this turn of events, and she doesn’t get along well with her classmates or the Headmistress, Ms. Traverse (Patricia Clarkson). As she struggles to make the best of her situation, Heather notices that slowly but surely the other students at the school have been vanishing, and there seems to be a mysterious force in the nearby woods which has been claiming the lives of the younger women – and will soon be coming after Heather. The Woods was the first major-studio feature from director Lucky McKee, who earned enthusiastic notices for his independent film May.

Quotes

Samantha: [Walks up to the table] Heard you been saying stuff behind my back, fire-crotch.

Heather: Now, Samantha, all I said was your breath smells like you’ve been drinking out of Ms. Mackinaw’s douche bag, that’s all.

[Samantha leans in threateningly]

Heather: I don’t wanna kiss you, Samantha, so please, don’t ask.

Samantha: No, you listen very closely, fire-crotch. We have a certain way of doing things around here and you better figure out what that way is or there are going to be serious consequences.

Ms. Traverse: [Ms. Mackinaw brings Heather into the office] What is this?

Ms. Mackinaw: Miss Fasulo attacked Miss Wise in the dining hall. [Her head twitches]

Ms. Traverse: Is that so?

Heather: I didn’t… [She twitches intentionally]

Heather: … attack anyone. I was just trying to defend myself. [Ms. Mackinaw looks embarrassed and upset that Heather made fun of her twitch]

Heather: I’m sorry. I didn’t man to… [Ms. Mackinaw twitches again and leaves angrily]

Ms. Traverse: [Slaps Heather] Now listen: We have a certain way of doing things around here and you better figure out what that way is or there are going to be serious consequences.

Samantha: [Heather kicks bathroom stall door to try and get out. Samantha has her pinned inside] Say it.

Samantha: [Heather kicks stall door again] Say it.

Samantha: “I’m a fire-crotch.”

Heather: What?

Samantha: “I am a fire-crotch.”

Heather: How many football players put it in you before your mom get sick of having another tramp around the house?

Girl #1: [Samantha pulls open the stall door angrily, then proceeds to punch Heather in the stomach] Nice one.

Samantha: [Heather is keeled over in pain] If you know what’s good for you, you’ll run away and never, ever come back.

Samantha: Got it, fire-crotch?

Title Card: In the fall of 1965, the Falburn Academy burned to the ground. It remains a mystery why the trees surrounding the academy were untouched by the fire.

[First lines] Alice: Fasulo: [to Heather in the backseat] Feet off the seat.

Heather: Apparently, my father isn’t as well off as he presents himself.

Marcy Turner: Who is?

Heather: [On the phone] Mom, I just wanna come home. I miss my friends.

Alice Fasulo: Heather, sweetheart, you don’t have any friends.

Ms. Traverse: A loving mother never abandons her child. To be separated from her is like an amputation. It doesn’t matter what a child looks like –if she’s smart, if she’s stupid, if she has no friends. So why would your mother leave you here?

Alice Fasulo: I don’t know what I have to do, to get you under control, Heather.

Heather: Then stop trying.

Ms. Traverse: You don’t know what it’s like to be trapped. To be tied to the same place, for hundreds of years. They’re here to help you, Heather. Don’t be sad. By leaving this world, you’re giving others the opportunity to fully enter it.