I’ve mentioned that a fertile ground for the kind of tension and conflict that permeates horror and thrillers is a setting where several women are forced to interact with each other. Hence, the various “women in prison” movies that were thing at one point.

It’s not the confines of prison, but rather an all girls boarding school that serves as the set piece for Lucky Magee’s 2006 supernatural thriller “The Woods.”

Magee, as I’ve stated in other reviews, directed one of the all-time great horror films in the past three decades, the body horror film “May.” As such, I was curious to sample his additional wares.

The setting is 1965 and teenage Heather is dropped off by her parents at Falburn Academy, a boarding school surrounded by forest. Fear and anxiety seem to permeate all the girls already there, and Heather quickly makes some enemies. Things go from bad to worse when she starts having strange dreams, seeing disturbing visions, and some of her fellow students vanish. There are also the whispered tales of a trio of witches who stumbled across the school years previous.

It’s a solid set up, and a creepy mood lingers throughout. There’s no really unexpected plot twists, but there are a few occasions where the film “goes there” when I did not think it would.

The lead actress is Agnes Bruckner who did a fine job, but seems to have largely disappeared from the business. The great actress Patricia Clarkson nails her role as one of the school’s mysterious administrators. Bruce Campbell has a rare snark-free appearance as Heather’s dad.

This is a good example of a horror film that delivers something unsettling without relying on slimy entrails or explosions of blood. (Not that I’m not against those things, but variety is the spice of life.)