Backwoods Horror Movie by Neil Fulwood

Those first creepy foreshadowings

will occur before you reach the lodge

or campsite or lake: little things

like the guy behind the wheel of the Dodge

or Ford pick-up truck driving too close

behind you, the being-watched sensation, 

something nailed to a roadside post,

the snake-wrangler at the filling station.

The motel will be a dump. There’ll be

a missing person leaflet (the poor sod who

bought it pre-credits) stapled to a tree.

The desk clerk will ominously tell you

about some other city folk - ... but

then the phone will ring and you’ll never

know what he was about to say. Cut:

the last leg of the journey, woods and river

flashing past the car window; a rusted

car in a creek, shot up; a trestle bridge; 

empty shacks. A bang. Front tyre busted,

you pull up. The map’s no help. A ridge 

you can’t identify’s the only marker.

Maybe someone lives up there. Check 

your phone: no signal. It’s getting darker.

Go back to town? Too long a trek.

Set out for the ridge, through the woodland.

The batteries in your torch won’t last.

Be scared: something’s coming at you and

it’s shapeless. Run. It’s moving fast.

Neil Fulwood is the author of two collections with Shoestring Press, with a third forthcoming in early 2021. He has also published two pamphlets with The Black Light Engine Room Press. Neil lives and works in Nottingham, UK.