Well, it starts off a bit dull, to be honest - and the first 20 minutes or so could have been trimmed, apart from the flashbacks for context later. And the whole 'getting to know you' scene-setting playing out a bit like a drab drama or soap. But anyway, it's not long to wait before we're deep into the woods with a bunch of young people off on a three-day hike. The usual thing - no cell phone coverage, a history of incidents in the very same location, people trying to get over life's past traumas and decisions made that impacted them.
It focuses on brother and sister Scott (Marshall Williams) and Ashley (Alexandra Essoe) - the two who carry those emotional scars and lingering trauma from the tragic deaths of their parents, as mentioned. To help mend their relationship and clear their heads, they organise this hike in the remote wilderness of British Columbia. Joining them are Gwen (Jordan Claire Robbins), Scott’s girlfriend; Charlie (Matt Hamilton), Ashley’s sweet partner (who is unaware that Ashley is secretly hiding morning sickness/pregnancy anxieties); and Lars (Richard Harmon), Scott’s abrasive, cynical and weirdly bitter friend who doesn't really know why he's there, doesn't want to be there, and nobody - including us - is really sure why he is there, given that!
Anyway, the film opens with a grim prologue - a mother and her young child are frantically fleeing through a dark wooded area, chased by a cold, calculating man they call 'Papa'. The mother tries to hide, but the man catches up to them and brutally slaughters her, leaving the traumatised child covered in blood.
We leap back to the hikers, who are heading deeper into the dense forest as the atmosphere sours. Tensions flare between the group, exacerbated by Lars’ abrasive attitude and the eerie, oppressive atmosphere of the woods. As they make camp, Scott and Charlie decide to head for the nearby river to catch some fish for some real earthy grub rather than the processed packets they brought with them.
As they finish what they are doing and are heading back with a fish, they are surrounded by threatening wolves. Scott gets separated and in a panic, he accidentally plunges straight into a deep, camouflaged 10-foot-deep hunting pit lined with lethal wooden spikes. Scott is severely injured, taking a brutal spike straight through his leg and leaving him completely immobilised at the bottom of the hole. The group had earlier stumbled into this animal trap as Lars almost fell in - and we were shown, much earlier, the impact on a deer which fell in. Anyway, it's getting dark and misty, visibility is poor, and Charlie - running from the wolves - realises that Scott is no longer following him. He can't find him, so he runs back to the camp to get help.
Meanwhile, down in the pit, Scott quickly realises that his fall wasn’t an accident. The pit is man-made, meticulously engineered and part of a vast network of sadistic traps scattered across the woods by a hulking and ruthless woodsman known simply as The Hunter (played by Randy Couture).
So, moving forward, we spend time with Scott in the pit, turning this into a survival tale of its own as he can't move, pinned to the ground with no chance of escape. He's in agony, and as he gets more anxious, he shares various hallucinations with us. He's losing blood and tries to limit that with a tourniquet and other measures - but his consciousness fades hours later as he runs out of his meagre water supply and can't face eating the raw fish!
Ashley, Gwen, Charlie and Lars try to work out what's happened to Scott while navigating the deadly woods too. The Hunter begins picking off the campers one by one using brutal, high-impact backwoods traps (including flying axes, spiked ball traps and arrows). Some of the 'kills' are well-imagined and all brutal! Lars' cynical demeanour gives way to panic, and members of the group are hunted down in increasingly gory sequences, including brutal ambushes around their campsite and tents. Ashley proves to be a resilient core of the group, fighting tooth and nail to protect her friends and find her brother, while Charlie and the others try to survive the relentless stalker.
Then two girls pop up from, well, I'm not sure where, along with an official-looking forester or ranger, who quickly gets his comeuppance, but eventually, anyway, we have two more terrorised characters in the mix, as clearly the five of them weren't enough!
So, we can now wonder - as we follow the two narrative threads, Scott in the pit and the rest being stalked - who (if anyone) will win out, who (if anyone) will survive, if Scott will get out before he dies, if he will find reconnection with his sister, if Lars will end his miserable outlook on life (assuming he survives), and so on. As we head for the bloody and chaotic finale, everyone (who is left) serves up a fun and eye-opening climax to the tale - and of course, we find out what happens to The Hunter, or if he survives for a sequel!
I think that the acting wasn't first-rate by some margin, but I've seen much worse! In that first half-hour, I did wonder, through the cheesy script on show, but it picked up as the thrills and terror began. There was a bit too much handheld camerawork for my liking, but not as bad as some - and, to be fair, it was more appropriately used here, casting the audience as a '6th person' I guess. The setting made the atmosphere gripping, with the dark woods, mist, rain, and mud featuring heavily.
It's a good film - fairly low-budget, but no expense spared with the physical blood, guts and gore. Because of that, it's certainly entertaining and a decent enough, if generally well-used, premise. It does have some unique aspects and, yes, is well worth a look I reckon if you can track it down.
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