For what it lacks in plot, 1981’s Don’t Go in The Woods makes up for in woods-y atmosphere, and if you’re looking for a campy summer slasher, this movie just might be worth a watch.

Released in the early years of the ’80s slasher boom, Don’t Go in The Woods follows closely in the footsteps of Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th Part II (released just the same year), and centers on a group of four friends being hunted by a killer in the woods.

In the director’s chair is James Bryan, known primarily for his low-budget exploitation movies, like Lady Street Fighter (1980) and Escape to Passion (1971). Don’t Go in the Woods would be Bryan’s first true dip into the horror genre, working with a script by Garth Eliassen in his only screenwriting credit, and with cinematography by Henry Zinman.

Don’t Go in the Woods manages to tow the line between cheesy and genuinely unsettling, primarily through its isolated setting — shot in and around Utah. The film begins with white text on a black background, before transitioning into shots of wilderness, immediately establishing the scale of the location. All the while, an ominous score plays in the background, and as the camera pans from overhead mountain shots to a more intimate POV, the audience gets the sense we’re looking through the eyes of our killer.

We see scattered, bloody belongings before we’re introduced to their potential owner — a woman running through the woods in a panic. The killer chases close behind in full POV, and the woman is dispatched just as quickly as she’s introduced. The film then cuts to our main cast, friends Peter (Jack McClelland), Joane (Angie Brown), Ingrid (Mary Gail Artz) and Craig (James P. Hayden). Craig, leader of the group (and maybe the only one with personality), leads them on their hike, and recounts the three important rules of being in the woods: 1. Don’t panic. 2. Always seek high ground, and 3. never, ever go in the woods alone.

The hikers’ dialogue — heavily dubbed over with ADR — makes their scenes unintentionally comedic, but the tension of the woods never truly lifts. As a result, the audience can’t shake the feeling they’re walking right into danger.

They’re not the only players in the movie. Don’t Go in the Woods juggles several. Between officers investigating murders in the woods and countless nameless victims, the movie introduces many characters as victim fodder. There’s not a whole of time spent getting to know them before they’re offed, but that doesn’t make their deaths any less entertaining — such as when a painter’s canvas is splattered with her own (bright red) blood. But as with a lot of early slashers, it suffers from moments of slowness between the kills, and where some might find charm in its acting, others might cringe.

Like the original Friday the 13th, the identity of the killer is treated as a mystery, and their attacks shown through first-person POV. About half an hour in the killer is ultimately unveiled as a Wild man type  (played by Tom Drury) — following in the lead of another horror classic, 1977’s The Hills Have Eyes. It’s an archetype which creates a clear juxtaposition between the “civilized” teens and the roughness of the woods. It also creates an imposing-looking antagonist without a whole lot of extra work.

While the origin of this “Wild man” isn’t really explained, the final shot of the film has interesting implications for his existence. In an earlier scene, the Wild man kidnaps a child (the daughter of the painter he kills). When the Wild man is killed, the child is shown alone, mimicking the killer by playing with a hatchet.

It’s a quietly eerie ending, suggesting the cycle will begin anew, and that the woods will continue to birth new monsters. It’s perhaps the best possible ending for a movie where its location is its greatest strength. You just have to trek through a lot to get there.