In The Trees

Lana and her boyfriend Jason head to a remote forest for a short camping trip with friends. Jason’s brother and his friend plan to join them later. First stop is the nearby small town, Firmont. After a night in the local motel and interactions with a few locals and visitors, they make their way to the forest trail and head in. They set up camp on the first day and relax in the beautiful scenery, with plans to hike deeper into the forest the next day. Their serenity is disrupted that night by a familiar face claiming he and his friend were attacked by an animal, and urging them to leave the area. The group dismiss the story as a poor practical joke and the next day, they continue their journey deeper into the forest. The group arrive at their preplanned camping spot and setup camp. While exploring, two of the group, Jake and Lisa, find an abandoned campsite, still full of equipment, and including a cellphone. They return to their campsite with the phone, where they discover footage of the animal attack they had been told about the previous night. The footage instigates an argument among the campers, resulting in Jake storming off into the forest, to his death. When Jake fails to return, Lisa, against advice, heads into the forest to find him. Lana and Jason notice Lisa has been absent for too long and try to catch up with her. After looking for a while, they eventually find Lisa, but something is wrong. As Lana and Jason approach Lisa, a creature kills her as they watch, helpless. In a panicked state Jason and Lana run, but Jason, who has a prosthetic leg is caught and immobilised by the creature. He survives the encounter, but isn’t sure why and is left alone and lost in the dark forest. Lana, fearing for her life and in a state of shock at what she witnessed, continues running through the trees with no idea where she’s going. She sees an old lodge with a light on, and runs for it. The lodge belongs to a local disabled man, Mr Shipton, who agrees to help her her. After a call to the town Sheriff using a radio system, Lana waits for him to arrive. The Sheriff turns up a few hours later and after hearing Lana’s story, takes her back to town, where he hopes he can make sense of what’s happened. The next morning, Jason’s brother, Mike, and his friend arrive in town with plans of joining the group in the forest. Their plans change when they see Lana arrive at the Sheriff’s office and they hear the details of Lana’s story. Mike immediately wants to search for his brother who has spent a cold, lonely night in the forest, and Lana, now feeling guilty for leaving him, wants to help with the search. The Sheriff, Lana, Mike and his friend head back out to the forest to try and locate Jason. After a good deal of walking, they arrive at the campsite, but it’s just how the group left it, and there’s no sign of Jason. Mike’s friend opts to stay at the campsite incase Jason returns and the others, led by the Sheriff, head deeper into the forest. As the daylight fades, the Sheriff wants to go back and return the next day with a larger search party, but Mike is not willing to let Jason spend another night in the forest. Mike runs off continuing to search for his brother, leaving the Sheriff and Lana with no choice, but to follow him. Mike’s stubbornness pays off when he’s reunited with Jason, but the reunion is cut short when the creature arrives and attacks them, rendering Jason unconscious and Mike badly injured. The Sheriff and Lana catch up to Mike just in time to see the creature attempt to drag both their bodies away. The Sheriff shoots, hitting the creature and causing it to leave Mike’s body, before it disappears into the darkness with Jason. Lana and the Sheriff try to help Mike, but he’s too badly injured and dies in Lana’s arms. They decide the best course of action is to seek help and shelter from Lana’s previous saviour, Mr Shipton, so they make their way to his lodge. Jason awakens in a basement workshop in restraints and is horrified by the scene around him. Blood splatters, bone, flesh and metal cover every surface. When the creature enters the workshop, Jason is shocked when it is revealed to be Mr Shipton using custom made prosthetic attachments. Mr Shipton has plans to make Jason like him, believing he would be making Jason faster and stronger. After sewing up his gun shot wound, Mr Shipton re-dons his creature outfit and heads back out to hunt for Lana and the Sheriff. Lana and the Sheriff have the lodge in sight when Mr Shipton dressed as the creature, attacks and kills the Sheriff. Lana runs to the lodge and barricades the door as the creature approaches. Lana tries the radio system to call for help, but gets no reply and is forced further into the house when the creature tries to gain entry to the house. Lana finds her way to the basement, where she finds Jason and attempts to free him. Her efforts are interrupted by the creature entering the basement workshop and she finds a hiding place leaving Jason only partially free. With Mr Shipton closing in on her, Lana shoots him with a flare gun she obtained from Mike’s bag, but it’s not enough to stop Mr Shipton. Lana sees a door and runs for it, entering a dark room and holding the door closed from the inside. Mr Shipton turns the lights on in the room revealing a gallery of grotesque sculptures made from his victims. It’s enough to distract Lana as she surveys the macabre works of art in horror, and Mr Shipton gains access to the gallery room. Lana is at his mercy and fears the worst, but is saved when Jason manages to injure Mr Shipton with his own prosthetic weapon. Lana makes sure he’s dead before they leave the room. Upstairs, on their way out, they hear a transmission on the radio system from the Sheriff’s deputy. They inform him what’s happened and head outside to await his arrival.