The Barrens Blu-ray Review

Darren Lynn Bousman is a filmmaking machine. Last year, he gave us 11-11-11 and Mother's Day. And in 2012, we're getting two more horror films from the Saw-alum, including The Devil's Carnival and The Barrens. Bousman also has at least three more projects on deck for 2013-14. Talk about busy.

Even more fascinating is that nearly every film on his resume is different, playing around with different subgenres within the horror playground. His latest entry is The Barrens, and it's actually one of his best films. Borrowing pieces and parts of the folktale of The Jersey Devil, the film follows a broken family as they trek into the wilderness on a camping trip, but soon worry they're not alone.

Painted largely as a monster movie, with a few clever shades borrowed from The Amityville Horror, The Barrens explores the nature of fear while also expressing a few metaphors about family turmoil and regret. The movie actually manages to take a few refreshing twists and turns, leaving audiences guessing where the plot is actually headed.

The performances are quite good. True Blood's Stephen Moyer delivers an outstanding performance as the father, Richard Vineyard. His slow mental breakdown is incredibly creepy to watch, especially when you begin to question his motives. He's complemented by Mia Kirshner (The Vampire Diaries), who plays the mother. Oddly, her performance is fairly vacant in the first two-thirds of the picture. It's not until the final act where she comes out of her shell. The two kids in the picture, played by Allie MacDonald (House at the End of the Street) and Peter DaCunha (who's set to star in Home Alone 5), also deliver naturalistic performances. DaCunha is a particular highlight as his reactions to the on-screen violence feel completely real.

Unfortunately, like many Darren Lynn Bousman films, The Barrens suffers from pacing issues. The entire middle act drags a bit, slowing down the narrative and drying out any brewing tension. The film meanders to the point of becoming repetitive, and only manages to pay off thanks to a few solid twists.

The film's monster is also not seen nearly enough. In fact, we only catch odd glimpses of the beast, usually in quick-cut takes or in the shadows. It's understandable to keep the monster hidden to add tension and dread to the picture, but we never quite get a decent look at the beast. That said, the few glimpses we do see are a tad silly, so it's possible the beast was cut back to reduce any audience laughter.

The Barrens is the very definition of a lightweight horror picture. The story is simple. The characters are a tad thin. And there's not much conflict. But as a midnight movie, The Barrens should prove intense and fun. The cast is terrific, and the moody atmosphere and '80s-like cinematography add gravity to the narrative. While not quite a hidden a gem, The Barrens is certainly a must-see for fans of monster movies.

The film comes to Blu-ray courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment. The disc is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, encoded in 1080p/AVC and mixed in 5.1 Dolby True HD. The two-disc set also includes a DVD copy of the film.

Shot on 16MM, The Barrens has a bit of an intentionally dated, early '80s slasher look to it, namely Friday the 13th. The gritty, grainy image adds quite a bit of texture and dread to the film – something that's often lost among modern horror films, which are usually shot using HD cameras. The encode handles the grainy image perfectly, with no compression or banding noted. That said, the image does succumb to some crush every now and then. This is likely the result of lower resolution photography, and not the result of the encode, though. For what it is, The Barrens looks outstanding on Blu-ray.

The film's 5.1 TrueHD track aims to impress with moody, atmospheric surround cues, heavy, thumping bass and clean dialogue. The film's folk-infused soundtrack is wonderfully mixed among the five channels, giving weight the film's inherent tension. The ambient sounds of the forest setting are also fully realized in this mix, adding a few fun layers to the film's many jumps and jolts.

Extras, sadly, are lacking. There's a commentary track with writer/director Darren Lynn Bousman and director of photography Joseph White. It's a solid listen that explores the mythology of the Jersey Devil, the production, designing the script and working with the cast. While a touch dry at times, the track is filled with plenty of insight and trivia, and should please fans of Bousman's other tracks.

The disc concludes with a series of trailers for other Anchor Bay titles, and a deleted scene, also with commentary by Bousman and White. At just 3-minutes, the scene is definitely worth a peek.

R.L. Shaffer is a writer at IGN. He enjoys a good monster movie, but hates camping. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and MyIGN for quotes, rants, reviews, news and more!

The Verdict

The Barrens could have used a little more monster imagery, and a few more victims, too. But this creepy addition to the monster genre shouldn't go unwatched by genre fans.

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How I Met Your Mother Creators on Setting Up the Final Pieces

How I Met Your Mother’s Season 8 premiere ended with a big moment for the series – Ted and the still-unidentified Mother seen at some point “a little ways down the road” waiting at the same train station, presumably about to meet.

If you’re worried they’ll be a swerve, and she’ll walk away before Ted talks to her or some such, don't fret. HIMYM creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays recently spoke to the press about Season 8, with Thomas firmly stating, regarding that train station, “That’s the moment we’re gonna meet the mother. We can honestly say that. That’s where it happens. We’re moments away.” Said Bays, “That moment is something we’ve been building to for a long time and we’ll see more of that moment as the series goes on.”

Bays noted that back in Season 6, Ted said, “When I met your mother, it was the day of a wedding,” and added, “We specifically at that time made it the day of a wedding, not at a wedding. I think a lot of people were a little misled by that, which I feel a little bit bad about. But it’s not actually at [Robin and Barney's] wedding, it’s at that train station.”

Said Thomas with a laugh, “We like jumping to endings and then not telling you the middle. It’s very sort of awkward storytelling when you think about it, but we enjoy it! We’re gonna fill in all of the blanks on that day for sure. That day is the biggest day in the history of the group, obviously, and that’s where the series is heading. We’re getting close now.”

Just how close is still being figured out, since it’s still not clear for sure whether Season 8 is the final one for How I Met Your Mother or if it will be renewed for Season 9. But as Carter and Bays explained, for now, they are moving forward as though this is the final year. [Click the link below for more on the unusual situation the show is in]

How I Met Your Mother Creators on the Potential for Season 9

Asked again about whether the show might bring in the mother before the very end and continue with her as a character, rather than introduce her at the very end, Thomas replied, “That’s one of the biggest questions of the series and people ask us all the time. I feel like I haven't come up with a good way to dodge it yet, so I’ll just say, 'I’m dodging that!' It’s certainly something we’ve talked about and considered. But I don’t wanna say whether we’ve committed to it. Wait and see.”

Bays and Thomas said that through the eight years of the show, their plan for how HIMYM would end hasn’t changed. Said Thomas, “It’s the same plan. It’s the same plan we’ve always had. So if you hate it when you see it, just know that we committed really early to it. We were 29!”

As for what else is to come before that ending arrives…

Romances of Doom!

Right now, Ted has reunited with Victoria (Ashley Williams), Barney is engaged to Quinn (Becki Newton) and Robin has begun dating "Crush" (Michael Trucco) . But because of the way How I Met Your Mother works, we know all these relationships are doomed. Which is why the showrunners don’t mind spoiling that coming soon is what Bays joked is “the break up month!” for all those couples.

As Thomas noted, “We’ve shown you the end of all these relationships. We know that Ted doesn’t marry Victoria, we know that Barney doesn’t marry Quinn. So we’re showing you this sort of path of carnage of these relationships. I think ultimately the challenge was can all three of these breakups be completely different from each other? Can there be a funny one, can there be a dramatic one, can there be this? And I think we’ve done it. That’s the goal of breakup month – to show you three completely different disillusions of relationships. I think everyone, including the guest cast – like Michael Truco, Becki Newton – everybody got to be great in all of it. We’ve shot all of that now and we’re happy with it."

Meanwhile, “[November] sweeps will really heat up that progression of Barney and Robin getting back together and I think we’ve come up with a fun, weirdly appropriate way to reunite them in a whole new way that I hope that everyone will like. It’s a weird way to get them back together, but it’s really fun.”

New Kids on the Block

Thomas Lennon popped up in the season premiere as Victoria’s fiancée, and Bays and Thomas revealed he’d be in at least one more episode. In addition, his fellow The State alum, Joe Lo Truglio will be introduced as the partner to Martin Short’s character, Garrison Cootes, at Marshall’s law firm.

As for "Crush", while he was briefly seen back in Season 6 and in the premiere, future episodes will establish that he’s what Thomas described as, “sort of a struggling, cable access chef. He’s really awful and searching for his perfect chef catchphrase.” Added Thomas, “We don’t want to give away too much away about the character, because we kind of have a little reveal about him. His relationship with Robin will delightfully implode during breakup month.”

The Past Returns

How I Met Your Mother has had a ton of memorable guest characters over the years. So with the end in sight, might we see some more familiar faces again? Revealed Bays, “Yeah, we have a plan actually – and this might be a very expensive plan. We have a plan to bring back many, many people that we’ve had on the show. Not to completely steal their idea, but I enjoyed the Seinfeld finale, when you saw everyone that’s ever been on the show and we have a way to do that that sort of fits in with the universe of our show. So hopefully there will be a cavalcade of familiar faces going into the final episode.”

In the meantime, True Blood’s Joe Manganiello is confirmed to be returning this season as Brad, Marshall’s old friend. Said Thomas, “He went to law school with Marshall and he’ll come back as a lawyer and will feature into the trial [involving Marshall’s firm].”

How I Met Your Baby

Adding a baby to a long-running sitcom can be a tricky thing. So will that addition become central to Marshall and Lily’s storylines and How I Met Your Mother itself this season? Said Thomas, with a knowing laugh, “This is what I’d like to believe… We are tending to the fact that they have a baby more than some other shows have, I think, but I don’t feel like the baby takes over the show… It feels like they have a baby, but not like the show is all baby, all the time. That’s what we’re shooting for.”

Bays and Thomas noted that they were often using what Thomas described as a, “Really creepy, lifelike stunt baby. It’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever touched – and I’ve touched some creepy things! So a fun game this season is pick out the creepy, fake baby if you want to do that sort of as a drinking game at home.

Robin Sparkles Forever!

As our time with Bays and Thomas was wrapping up. I had to ask the duo: If How I Met Your Mother is wrapping up soon, we have to see Robin Sparkles again, right?

Replied Bays, “That’s always hanging out there as a thing we want to go back to - I think one more time before we hang it up.”

Added Thomas, “We have an idea. The challenge is always to do it and have it be completely different than the others. I’d like to think that all three that we’ve done have been different and we have a way to do it that I think would be completely different from all the other three. So yeah, we want to do it before the series ends.”

How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays at 8pm on CBS.

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How I Met Your Mother: "Farhampton" Review

Warning: Full spoilers from the episode to follow.

It's been a long time coming -- a looooong time coming -- but with this season of How I Met Your Mother possibly acting as its last, it's clear after watching "Farhampton" that the show definitely has its sights set on the end. This, of course, was mainly due to the fact that we got the closest we ever have to seeing the mother, and for once, it almost feels like the end of our tale is within reach. Unfortunately, that fleeting exhilaration of that final moment was more or less undercut by the 21 humdrum minutes preceding it.

Once again, Barney and Robin were back on the long road to reuniting -- did I mention? -- again. In what is possibly the most roundabout way of writing someone off a show, it's borderline infuriating that we'll soon be forced to witness the train wreck that will eventually become Barney and Quinn's inevitable breakup. More than anything, I almost just feel sorry for Becki Newton, whose presence on the show now only serves as a constant reminder that she's leaving. We already know how the story ends, must we spell out how it all happens? At this point, I think we can put the pieces together. It's kind of like watching The Sixth Sense and knowing the whole time that (spoilers?) Bruce Willis is a ghost. It's simply not as interesting to watch.

How I Met Your Mother Creators on Crafting the (Probable) Final Seaosn

However, Lily and Marshall's storyline was easily the laziest of the bunch. Not only have we seen the "sleep deprived parents" bit in countless other sitcoms, but it seemed like there were some mixed metaphors going on between the initial zombie references and the bizarre recurring fish tank gag. Hopefully their season arc will improve, as theirs is currently the only one without a predetermined destination. It's a shame they got the shaft this week, as their hackneyed B-story could have easily been reworked into a stronger social rules bit. Admittedly, though, I did chuckle when Quinn explained why she had overheard the dazed couple's conversation, "'Hey, Quinn. Let's all hang out in Marvin's room!'"

Meanwhile, we also got a followup from Ted and Victoria, who, last we saw, had driven off into the sunset together. But as someone well versed in the etiquette of being left at the altar, Ted was appalled to learn that Victoria had not left a note for her fiancee Klaus. After all, "it's common courtesy!" Honestly, this arc -- while ultimately about as meaningless as Barney/Robin/Quinn's -- was perhaps the most entertaining. Ted's not so stealthy attempts at leaving the note were among some of the better sequences, particularly Barney's remote distraction of Andrea the Giant. ("Quinn's on board!")

However, it was Thomas Lennon's portrayal of Klaus that truly elevated this story. His conversation with Ted at the train station definitely added a bit of much needed weight to the episode. Although Band of Horses' "Funeral" wasn't exactly the most appropriate underscore for the montage, Klaus's speech was still a rather well-written summation of the presumed events to come, and provided a nice lead-in to the aforementioned mother sequence.

"Farhampton" was not without its occasional redeeming qualities, but as far as HIMYM episodes go, this one was certainly not a standout. In fact, the only substantial joke was Barney's one-minute recap of the entire series thus far, which seemed oddly fitting for HIMYM's potentially final premiere. Likewise, Robin's bridal cold feet at the top of the episode also provided an additional nugget of intrigue (although this obviously won't be addressed until later on). Aside from that, the episode was pretty lacking in both laughs and dramatic content. While it's a plus that Season 8 is heading somewhere assuredly interesting, I only hope the road ahead is a little more scenic.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

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Norman Bates Cast for Psycho Prequel Series, Bates Motel

Following the news from a few weeks ago that actress Vera Farmiga (The Departed) had been cast as Norman Bates' controlling mother, Norma, for A&E's Bates Motel - a Psycho prequel series focusing on the formative years of future killer Norman Bates - comes cool news of the casting of Norman himself! - via TVGuide.com

After what TVGuide.com's William Keck called an "exhaustive" search, Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) has landed the role of a younger version of Norman, a role made famous by Anthony Perkins in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic, Psycho.

Ex-Lost EP/Showrunner Carlton Cuse is currently the EP/runner of Bates Motel, which will begin production of its 10 episode order in 2013.

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