Lifetime
Lifetime takes a different kind of direction with its usual kidnapping stories with Little Girl in the Woods, making more of a survival thriller filled with quite a bit of deeply emotional moments.
The story begins with mother Evie (Alana Hawley Purvis) speaking with her daughter, via sat-phone, who is hiking in the mountains (she is with someone but at this particular moment is by herself). Her daughter drops her phone over the edge of a cliff and it lands just out of her reach. Attempting to retrieve it, she falls over the edge while her mother listens on the other end. Several months later, Evie and a group of friends are going on their own hiking trip in the same mountains which will take them to the spot where her daughter died. But this isn’t just a group of friends, it is a grief support group for mothers who have lost a child, founded by Jan (Camille Atebe), who was a minister at a church. Evie was the first person to sign up. The others include Bea (Amy Trefry), Hope (Justine Warrington) and newcomer Maya (Caitlyn Stryker), who has been dealing with her grief for just a few short months and isn’t ready yet to talk about her daughter’s death. When they arrive at the base, Evie is informed by Barry (Lukas Pfob) that the female guide they had booked was unavailable due to a personal issue and he would be their guide, but Evie tells him a man would change the energy of the group and she, as an experienced hiker, will lead the group herself. Barry is a complete tool and no one would really want him as their guide, even if he is the (possibly self-appointed) Guide of the Month.
Lifetime
The women set out and as night falls they set up camp, but Bea dared to brush her teeth, the toothpaste scene drawing a bear to their location, tearing up one tent and making off with Bea’s backpack — which had their satellite phone. At least Evie has the map … but Bea borrowed that too so it is gone as well. Evie is pretty familiar with the terrain and attempts to lead them to an area where they can possible find someone with a phone. At one point, they spot a woman apparently hunting but she does not speak to them. As the day grows shorter and no closer to a phone, the spot a cabin in the middle of the woods. Hoping that the occupants have a phone, they head to the cabin but no one answers when they knock. Despite knowing better, Evie goes in followed by the others. They find a radio but no phone and Evie hears knocking coming from under the house. They find the door to the crawlspace and inside is a little girl, obviously terrified, unable to speak but able to communicate that she does not belong there. The women make the decision to take the girl, who shows them that her name is Alice (which is stitched onto the foot of her teddy bear), but before they can get away the occupants of the cabin return. Having gone back into the cabin to try to radio for help, three escape through a back window with Evie and Hope remaining but Hope tells Evie to go as well. She does, reluctantly, but can’t bear the thought of leaving Hope behind. Unfortunately, the occupants aren’t happy that Hope is there and Alice (Juliette Hawk) is gone and Hope is shot dead, Evie discovering her body when she returns. Now it become a race for survival as Jan sends Bea, Maya and Alice down the mountain to get help and she returns to the cabin to help Evie and Hope, unaware that Hope is dead. But Evie has already left and Jan ends up falling into a trap, with cabin occupant Clayton (Roark Critchlow) trying to get her to tell him where Alice is, calling her his granddaughter, but not getting any answers, so he leaves her there to either die of dehydration or exposure, whichever comes first. Clayton, his daughter Ruth (Tavia Cervi) and another guy named Silas (Edward Lafferty), head into the woods to find Alice. Jan does manage to climb out of the hole in the ground, Evie is basically on her own but is stalked and shot at with a bow and arrow by Silas (she manages to take him down and get his weapon), and Bea has stepped into a bear trap, likely shattering her leg, Maya crafting a makeshift splint with Alice’s help, but knowing Ruth is very close to finding them. Bea begs Maya and Alice to leave her, which they do reluctantly, putting all of the women in great danger as they try to get help and survive the obviously skilled assailants. But who else will make it off the mountain alive?
Little Girl in the Woods, originally titled Trouble in the Woods, is a pretty taut, nail-biting thriller. Writer Dustin Morrow has crafted a pretty decent survival story without piling on too many convenient implausibilities. He’s also created five strong female characters without making them specific stereotypes. These women are all equals, even though Hope is the one who feels like she’s bitten off more than she can chew. There’s none of this ‘Evie is the strong one, Jan is the wise one, Hope is the goofy one, Bea is the careless one, Maya is the emotional one’ — which they are but they aren’t just pigeonholed into those types. And other than Jan, they all carry that undertone of sadness at various levels, all there to support each other, knowing this will be an emotional journey for Evie while also having to do some hand-holding with Maya, whose grief is still fresh. And when the situation become dire after they are discovered by Clayton and company, they all become focused on surviving. While the survival moments are crafted to keep you on the edge of your seat, the deeply emotional moments with Evie and Maya really hit home and pack a punch. Director Paula Elle also does a great job handling both the quiet and action-packed scenes, making great use of the snowy landscape, and actually filming night scenes at night! It’s just a really well-crafted film.
Lifetime
One really interesting aspect of the film is the casting. If you’re a Lifetime regular, you will recognize most of the cast but if you just watched the LMN movie Taste of His Own Poison, you will see several members of that cast including Purvis, Warrington, Critchlow and Hawk, all giving very different performances. Purvis goes from distraught mother on the edge of her own sanity in the previous film to a mother dealing with lingering grief but not letting that grief define her, putting herself in a leadership position to keep her friends safe. Purvis has to walk a fine line, keeping her emotions in check, and she can really kick some ass when she needs to. The two movies really show her range as an actress. Warrington also gets to play a different character than the professional detective, here the friend who isn’t really the outdoorsy type but is willing to put that behind her to be another means of support for the group, bravely sacrificing herself so the others can get away (although she probably hadn’t counted on ending up dead). Critchlow goes from the caring principal to off-the-grid survivalist, a man who has created his family by kidnapping Alice and possibly Ruth as well (and Silas too?), basically grooming them to believe they are all related (even though Alice knows that she was abducted and is not part of the family). He is quite a terrifying and imposing force as he orders Ruth and Silas around and terrorizes both Jan and Evie. Hawk goes from the loyal BFF to a young girl too terrified to speak, but able to convey her emotions to the others, forging a bond with Maya, each of them helping the other to break through their own trauma. Each of these actors shows off their skills across both movies, and it’s obvious why Lifetime (or the films’ production company) keeps hiring them.
Also doing some great work is Camille Atebe as Jan. While Evie is the leader of the group on the hike, Jan is really the emotional support for the others. She is sensitive when she needs to be, and strong when the chips are down, not allowing herself to fall into despair when she becomes trapped. She makes Jan really feel like someone you can confide in, someone who will always be that shoulder for you to cry on. Amy Trefry has a tough role as Bea because she has to be the one member of the group the audience has to dislike for being so careless, getting them into the situation they’re in, while also having to be sympathetic enough for us to root for her to survive after she is injured and subsequently captured by Clayton and used as bait to draw Evie into the open. It’s a tough role but Trefry pulls it off. Caitlyn Stryker is also excellent as Maya. She wears her heart on her sleeve and shows that her grief is still very fresh even five months after her daughter’s death. But she is also a caregiver, a nurse by profession, so she also can keep her head on straight in dire situations, doing all she can to save Bea and care for Alice, forming a nice bond with the young girl, her motherly instincts kicking in. She makes Maya the warmest member of the group, someone anyone would want as a friend. Great work by them all. In addition, Tavia Cervi is very good as Ruth, at first a distraught mother doing anything to get her daughter back … even though Alice is not her real daughter. She makes Ruth authentically believe Alice is hers, but Clayton has made it clear that he got Alice for Ruth because she wanted a child of her own. She handles the action scenes extremely well, and also does a really nice job of getting hit with a dose of reality when she is questioned point blank if Clayton really is her father, the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks, her performance at that point managing to make us feel sympathy for her as well. All in all, great work by everyone.
While Little Girl in the Woods might have a couple of questionable plot holes and unanswered questions, particularly about Clayton and his ‘family’, it is a gripping tale of survival expertly crafted by the talents behind and in front of the camera.
Little Girl in the Woods has a run time of 1 hour 28 minutes, and is rated TV-14.
Sneak Peek | Little Girl in the Woods
Lifetime