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Released by: Saturn’s Core
Released on: April 26th, 2022.
Director: Dawn Murphy
Cast: Dawn Murphy, Dave Castiglione, Pamela Sutch, Gary Whitson
Year: 1998
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Backwoods Marcy – Movie Review:
This sixty-six minute micro-budgeted camcorder epic from New Jersey’s Skarkey Video begins when an arrogant big city real estate agent named Donald (Dave Castiglione) leaves his family in the city and, for work, heads out to a remote part of New Jersey for a quickie with a hooker (Dawn Murphy). After that quick romp, he makes a wrong turn and wind up lost in the swampy Pine Barrens.
When he comes across a filthy, toothless woman named Marcy (Murphy again!) who offers to help him out, he initially takes her up on the offer but quickly tosses her out of his car, repulsed by her, and then accidently winds up running her over. Marcy, however, isn’t badly hurt and clearly has a thing for Donald. Through some odd twists of fate, as he tries to find his way out of the Pine Barrens, he keeps running into her. Soon enough, he makes a mistake and she winds up essentially raping him and holding him captive in a metal cage out in the middle of the woods… and anyone who gets in her way quickly learns that she’s very handy with a machete.
Made for peanuts and with very limited technical resources, Backwoods Marcy still manages to entertain, putting an amusing gender-swap tactic on the tried and true backwoods horror/hicksploitation genre. The woodsy location work helps out quite a bit, you really do get the feeling that this is all taking place in the middle of nowhere rather than in the director’s backyard, and the film is paced pretty quickly, though it’s less concerned with character development than it is with getting to the exploitative meat of the matter.
Murphy, who also wrote and directed the film, does a fine job in her dual role (the hooker isn’t really in the movie that much, however). She definitely throws herself into the part of Marcy, looking about as grubby as they get with her blacked out teeth and greasy hair. There’s no lack of energy on her part either. Dave Castiglione, her real life husband, is also just fine here, the fact that they were obviously close on a personal level probably making some of the sleazier material in the movie easier for them to shoot together. Castiglione does a pretty good job of portraying Donald as the creep that he is. Also look for W.A.V.E. Productions’ own Gary Whitson and Psycho Sisters’ star Pamela Sutch in smaller, supporting roles.
Thematically this one doesn’t reinvent the wheel but making the antagonist a female does put a weirdly feminist slant on the proceedings that makes it interesting. There aren’t a ton of gore effects here and the movie doesn’t go as far as you might expect it to, but it’s got a certain grubby, no-budget charm to it. It’s also nice to see some proper care put into the camerawork. Even if this was shot with an analogue camcorder, there’s some good framing and lighting decisions here, giving the film more polish than a lot of other SOV efforts demonstrate.
Backwoods Marcy – Blu-ray Review:
Both versions of Backwoods Marcy comes to region free Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080i high definition transfer that was transferred from the original S-VHS master. Framed at 1.33.1 with the sixty-six minute feature taking up 13.9GBs of space on the 50GB disc, this looks very much like the micro-budget SOV production that it is, but it’s more than watchable if you keep its low budget origins in mind. Detail can’t surpass the source material but the disc is well authored and compression is obviously much better here than had the movie been put onto a DVD. Colors and black levels look alright, skin tones too. Again, don’t expect a revelation here but those accustomed to the way that camcorder epics such as this look on optical discs will be more than happy with this way this has turned out, so long as expectations are kept in check.
The 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo audio, available with optional English subtitles, sounds fine in both cuts. Levels are balanced well enough and there isn’t much in the way of hiss or distortion to complain about. Again, the limitations of the source material do factor into the equation here, but overall, given the film’s roots, the audio is decent.
Extras for the feature attraction start off with an audio commentary with actor/co-producer Dave Castiglione (who also offers an optional six minute introduction to the film) moderated by Ross Snyder from Saturn's Core. It’s a really interesting track that goes over a lot of the ins and outs of low budget filmmaking, detailing Castiglione’s affiliation with W.A.V.E., the birth of Sharkey Video, the locations, working with the different cast members, taking a very DIY approach to promoting the film, adding footage to get it over the hour mark, the effects work in the film and lots more.
Behind the Backwoods is a making-of/blooper reel featurette with commentary by producers Dawn Murphy and Dave Castiglione that runs for just over twelve minutes. It’s interesting to see, as we get to check out what it was like on the set during the shoot and the conditions under which the movie was made.
The original VHS release is included here as well. It's interesting because it includes a different opening title sequence as well as a few different alternate takes and editing choices. It's been sourced from one of the few known existing copies of the original Sharkey Video VHS release in AVC encoded 1080p high definition with 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 audio, without any subtitle options, and runs 1:12:40.
In the trailer vault section, we’re treated to trailers for Love Is A Stranger Again, Deep Undead, Mail Order Murder, Psycho Sisters, Duck! The Carbine High Massacre, Sinistre, Red Spirit Lake, We Await and Shatter Dead.
The disc also includes a bonus movie in the form of An Ex-Hooker’s Christmas Carol, a seventy-three minute shot on video comedy from 1998 written and directed by Dave Castiglione. The presentation is framed at 1.33.1 and presented in AVC encoded 1080i high definition with 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Audio. There are no subtitles provided, and the presentation quality is on par with that of the feature attraction. The movie follows a hooker named Milly (Laura Gigilio) who gets nabbed by the cops and brought up on prostitution charges with Christmas just around the corner. She's sentenced to community service and connects with a derelict (Castiglione, who also plays a cop and a drag queen in the movie) and then winds up having to look after a 'slow' guy named Keith (Timothy Hawk) who considers himself a caretaker of sorts of a forest full of magical snowmen. Also made for little money, this quirky comedy is not without its charm. Full of big, nineties ‘Jersey Girl’ hair and bad fashions, goofy dialogue, intentionally hammy acting, it’s an atypical Christmas movie to be sure, but the writing is sometimes pretty clever and the comedy a lot more effective than it probably should have been.
Dave Castiglione is on hand to provide a commentary for the film, moderated by Ross Snyder from Saturn's Core, that is pretty interesting. It goes over the evolution of the idea that turned into a story that turned into a script that was then changed around a lot, casting the film, playing the different parts that Castiglione, casting the movie, locations and more. Lots of good information in here and the two clearly have a good time going over the film.
Milly's Wonderful Life is an interview with actress Laura Giglio about her work on An Ex-Hooker's Christmas Carol. She’s also clearly having a great time strolling down memory lane here, sharing info about how she landed in the film, having to do comedy for the first time, the cold shooting conditions and more. The six minute A Sharkey Tale sees Castiglione talk more about the company’s output, cranking out a few micro-budget pictures fast and cheap.
Finishing up the extras are a blooper reel, a twelve minute archival collection of behind the scenes footage, an alternate ending, a still gallery with isolated score, a trailer for the reissue of An Ex-Hooker’s Christmas Carol, menus and chapter selection.
Backwoods Marcy – The Final Word:
Backwoods Marcy is a pretty entertaining no-budget picture that succeeds thanks to some committed performances and a few neat twists. Saturn’s Core has stacked the disc with special features, including a second bonus film, and presented the film in its newly edition version as well as its original VHS version in presentations that would presumably be as good as the elements will allow for. Recommended for SOV enthusiasts!