After going missing while hiking, a boys' parents decide to head out into local Indian tribal land to try to find him but as they and their guide go deeper into the woods for their search they realize they're encroaching on the sacred land of a mystical shapeshifting demon and must try to survive the experience.
There were a lot of enjoyable aspects to this one. The best aspect of this one is the fact that there's a wholly engaging drama throughout the film that carries a fascinating storyline here. The initial idea that he's been lost for a while and that all hope to recover him, featuring the mounting desperation to find him that goes alongside the parents' grief to get him back to reconcile their relationship together in the face of all the surrounding evidence that says he's missing or worse. The parental grief is palpable and relatable enough that their desperation turns to them hiring the tracker and heading out into the wilderness to find him deep in ancient Indian tribal lands. The atmosphere of the woods, while they're out searching for him in the daylight alongside their guide, takes this into a far more horror-inspired direction. From the initial bloody mark on the tree at an impossibly high level, there's a far greater hint of danger and the unknown with the animal noises in the distance, the constant getting sidetracked and venturing off to go find the source or the discovery of the animal carcasses surrounding local Native warnings features a great aura of impending dread. Effectively utilizing a slow-burn atmosphere to slowly build the idea that something's wrong the deeper into the woods they go, the film becomes quite creepy and chilling in this regard. The last half is where the film shines, though. With the parents alone in the strange wilderness alone with little supplies left, the arrival of the Indian girl who leads them incredibly deep into the woods where the elation of his belongings being found turns into grief again with the realization he's still missing is a solid storyline that furthers the exploration of the area in the last half. Exploring the idea of utilizing her grief and anguish as a means of external being constantly one step ahead of her yet always ready to interact and torment her because it can, there's a fantastic symbolism at play here between the freer local way of life and her singular determination to find him, giving the film plenty of likable elements. There's very little to dislike about this one. Among its main problems is a complete lack of focus on the characters at the beginning, switching around each characters' explanations and motivations for continuing. At points, one wants to carry on to find him and drags the other along despite wanting to go back and others the roles are reversed depending on the scene's requirements making for a somewhat wishy-washy narrative that forces the parents to stay out in the woods despite plenty of logical reasoning to leave. Some might find the lack of creature presence an issue based on never getting any kind of clear look at it in any capacity, but based on the symbolic journey attempted here this shouldn't be considered a detrimental factor. Beyond these, the film has plenty to enjoy about it.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence and mild violence-against-animals.
