We head into the woods for a spoiler-filled review of Deathwoods, the 2026 indie slasher directed by Jake Kopronica and Deryk Wehrley and starring KateLynn E. Newberry, MacKenzie Lee, Anthony Dain, Haley Johnson, and Jake Kopronica.

What starts as a weekend camping trip quickly turns into a blood-soaked fight for survival as an urban legend begins picking off the group one by one. Deathwoods doesn’t exactly reinvent the slasher formula, but with its throwback ’80s atmosphere, surprisingly strong performances, high body count, brutal kills, and plenty of practical gore, it ended up being a lot more fun than either of us expected.

We break down the movie’s grindhouse-inspired presentation, the cinematography, the increasingly questionable decisions being made by everyone in the woods, a twist that caught us off guard, and why horror characters still haven’t learned to stay the hell out of abandoned houses.

There is one major issue, though: the audio mix. Between dialogue getting buried under ambient sound and sudden volume spikes, both of us eventually gave up and turned on subtitles. Somehow, even Corey’s years of destroyed concert hearing weren’t enough preparation.

Despite that, Deathwoods delivered where it mattered. Steve and Corey both give it a 4 out of 5.

Deathwoods is available now on Screambox.

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