Within the Pines review: an eerie Rear Window for audio nerds that’s streaming now

Somewhere, right now, in a shady grove, back beach, grocery store or even a multiplex carpark, there’ll be a person recording audio for some project. These sound recordists, whether they’re within the pines or within the yellow lines, usually have a fine-tuned sense for hearing things others don’t – it comes with the territory. But what happens if they, and they alone, hear something they’re not supposed to?

Within the Pines continues a great tradition in horror films of an ordinary everyman stumbling upon something he wishes he didn’t.

Sam Evans, a middle-aged sound recordist with an imminent divorce looming over him, single-mindedly devotes himself to his work. For whatever reason, he’s got to record atmos in the forest on this one fateful day. But while he works, tuning into the sounds of the woods in an almost zen-like state, he hears the distant yet clear sound of someone screaming in distress.

Knowing that he’s travelled some distance to get there and that civilisation is miles away, Sam is perplexed and haunted by the sound. His curiosity naturally takes over, leading him towards the source of the cries. You can probably guess how that ends up for him.

Taking its main chunk of narrative cues from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Within the Pines uses a microphone instead of a camera to build terror from the fear of what is seen/heard but not understood. Sam, played by The Stranger‘s Brendan Cooney, is a modern day Jeff (Jimmy Stewart’s wheelchair bound photographer), who accidentally stumbles upon something criminal and brings immediate danger to himself as its only witness.

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Watch the trailer for Within the Pines:

As its primary gimmick, I must say the sound design of the film is excellent. Director Paul Evans Thomas and sound designer Adam Orlowski have been intentionally sparse with dialogue, with the only spoken lines being peppered in to flesh out Sam’s character a bit and add clarity to key story beats.

The focus instead is on the eerie atmos and foley, which winds up making a sort of meta-comment on the importance of the protagonist’s job.

The camerawork, led by DOP Carl Swart, is also great, and only those with film know-how will clock just how many tightly-framed shots there are to disguise the lack of budget for sets and big location shoots. When it comes to those kind of restrictions, I have to admire the artistic skill that goes into the creative workarounds the filmmaker found to make their vision work.

Evans Thomas clearly knows his stuff when it comes to the technical side of filmmaking – his YouTube channel, which has some 380 thousand subscribers, features plenty of slick how-to style videos on everything from car chases to product placement. Within the Pines is his feature debut, adapted from his short film Foley Man.

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Within the Pines: vital signs

That technical know-how doesn’t just produce results in the sound editing department, it also shows in the look and feel of the film. In short, it looks great – and for the most part, cultivates an effective isolating feeling via huge chunks of silence and wide shots of the dense forest that seems to go on forever and ever.

On the whole, though, Within the Pines doesn’t quite have the momentum to justify its runtime. Don’t get me wrong, the bones of a great film are definitely there – they just lack the meat to keep those vital signs going.

Example: Brendan Cooney is likeable enough as leading man Sam, but we simply don’t know enough about the character to really understand him or to remain on board with his dubious choices. The villain is also very undercooked, and comes across as a lazy stereotype that’s not really much of a threat.

The lack of dialogue, in both of those respects, is a bug rather than a feature, but even then there are definitely opportunities to ‘show’ us about his character rather than tell us. They’re missed opportunities, though, which is a real downer. I felt like I couldn’t really latch on to the film.

By the time the conclusion arrived, I couldn’t help feeling like something big was missing. Some stellar parts were definitely present, and as a filmmaking exercise it’s more than competent. There’s even an ambitious attempt at setting up some ongoing, post-film intrigue, which perhaps might be revisited in a sequel, but it just wasn’t enough to get me excited.

Within the Pines screened at the Sitges Film Festival and won First Prize for Best Feature at the 2024 Rhode Island Film Festival, before premiering in Australia at the inaugural Dark Nights Film Festival in Sydney.

Local support for the film has continued to gain momentum, with the feature now available to stream.

Within the Pines is available to rent from 18 April on Amazon and Google Video.