- Directed by Kourtney Roy
- Written by Paul Bromley
- Stars Chloe Pirrie, Jeff Gladstone, Jason Deline
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FueXM0b4W68
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
What seems to start out as a simple cryptid-in-the-woods story that steadily gets more complicated as a curious woman, who seems to have amnesia, retraces the steps of a missing cryptid hunter. Full of strange and interesting characters and things that make you wonder what’s going on, it’s a good one that keeps you interested right to the end with an ambiguous wrap up. We both liked it, but it might not be for everyone.
Spoilery Synopsis
A woman drives through the forest to a very isolated place. She eventually arrives with a group – the women’s walking club on Krypto Peak. Kay has joined the group, hoping to make some friends, but she sits alone and ignores everyone else. The tour guide tells them about Barb Valentine, a local cryptozoologist who went missing a while back. He explains what cryptids are. She was here for the Sooka, a tall, hairy creature, something like Bigfoot with a mole face.
Kay soon wanders off alone and encounters the creature, even getting it on video. She runs to the nearest campground as the tour group wonders what happened to her. She sneaks back among the group and pretends that she was with them all along. She’s… odd. When she gets back to her car, she checks her driver’s license and sees that it says, “Kay Hall.” She acts surprised.
She goes home and goes through the whole house, looking to see if she’s alone. In the morning, she goes through all her clothes and continues to explore the place. She eventually looks through her video camera at the footage but gets interrupted by the phone. It’s Don, her boss, who wants her to come in this afternoon. She gets there but decides not to stay.
At home again, she starts researching Barb Valentine, and the photo shown is… her. Suddenly, someone breaks into her house; she runs to the car and drives away. She wakes up at 3:15 the next day parked out in the woods, and her legs are covered in mud. She drives to Blue Cliff, the last known place where Barb was supposed to have visited as she listens to a podcast about Sooka in the car.
Kay talks to Sally, the woman who runs the motel, about Barb. “Oh yes! The monster hunter! It’s terrible that all the people are going missing around here. It’s like the forest swallows them up.” That night, she watches a video of Barb’s last interview, and Barb looks exactly like her.
In the morning, Sally isn’t around. Kay drives on to the next location that Barb was supposed to have visited and goes into the woods. She soon runs into a hairy monster… no, it’s Starla, a hunter in a camo outfit. Kay goes home with the strange woman, who takes her home and pulls out a scrapbook about Sooka. Starla’s daughter, Diane, was taken by the Sooka ten years ago. Kay shows Starla her video and talks about forgetting who she is. Then Kay passes out.
When she wakes up, Kay is alone, and her feet are dirty. But she does run into another woman who gives her directions and suddenly vanishes. She sees a “Missing” poster for Diane later, and it’s the woman from the woods.
Kay watches videos about Morgan, Barb’s husband, who is desperately trying to find her. She goes to a bar and talks to a former magician who’s just a full-time drunk now. The drunk gives her another lead on the Sooka. Kay starts seeing things; maybe she’s the monster after all.
She drives to the next place and talks to Johnette, who is supposed to have seen the creature. Inside, she sees a book that Barb wrote, and it’s got a business card inside. Johnette thinks she looks like one of those monster hunters who used to come around. The Sooka tried to break into her trailer a while back, and she describes the creature.
Johnette invites her to the big trailer park party tonight. An old man there talks about the Sooka travelling through portals to get around. Another woman there talks about sleepwalking and waking up covered in mud. Sasha recognizes who she really is and asks what happened. “People like us got to stick together.” She gets really high and goes off with Caleb, Johnette’s boyfriends, and they do naughty, possibly inhuman, things in the woods.
Kay/Barb walks home to Morgan, who is shocked to see her. She stinks, so he cleans her up and wonders why she doesn’t speak much. He seems a little off as well, both weird and creepy. Morgan dresses her up and gets her to work in the yard doing gardening.
She eventually starts to talk, and it’s clear that she ran away from him because he was so controlling and mean. He talks about the fantasy stuff causing her last “episode,” and we’re not quite sure who to believe. Later, he tries to have sex with her, and they both get really weird.
Barb goes into her desk and pulls out a bunch of news articles about Kay Hall, who has gone missing. She and Morgan argue again, and this time, she hits him with her car before finishing him off. She drives off, leaving him to die on the floor.
She drives back to her “Kay” house and goes inside. She breaks in through a window, and we hear past-Kay downstairs running away and driving off. She gets back in the car and drives off to the hiking trail where the film began. She goes off-trail, just like before, and leaves her hoodie and flowers right where we saw them earlier.
Then she sees a bright light in the woods…
Brian’s Commentary
Most of the film is one of those “what is going on” plots. It’s well acted, looks good, doesn’t get boring at any point, and has lots of interesting characters.
So what was going on? There was something to do with time portals, that much is clear. We repeatedly get monstrous, slimy flashbacks, especially when anything approaches being a sex scene.
I have no idea. It was entertaining and weird, but I’m not gonna pretend to understand this one. Do I recommend it? Depends on if you need answers or not.
Kevin’s Commentary
I’m going to go on the side of liking it. Things weren’t super clear, and it was very strange, but it kept me engrossed throughout.