I'd read the positive and negative reviews about this movie, and truth be told, both types were right. There are some things to like, and there are things not to like. The latter, unfortunately for the viewer, far outweighs the former.
The premise is that our heroine, Jen, misses her dearly departed father. She invites her best friend, Maya, to come with her to spend a nice, peaceful week at Jen's father's cabin by the lake. Maya complicates things by inviting her father's godson, Dave, to come along without checking with Jen first. Dave brings along his girlfriend Brooke. Maya also forgets to mention to Jen that she also neglected to mention that she invited her boyfriend along, too. Quite a pal, that Maya.
Maya, Dave, and Brooke go into town to grab a bite and to pick up supplies. This leaves Jen alone at the cabin. Jen receives a call from her mother, whom she has a strained relationship with. After a terse conversation with Mom, Jen hangs up and meets Dustin, who lives in a neighboring cabin. Dustin pretty much appears out of nowhere carrying a shotgun, but although she professes that Dustin frightened her, she invites him over to her cabin anyway.
Jen and Dustin chat, and the first length topic of conversation revolves around the disappearance of Dustin's wife the year before. Dustin's wife was abducted by a local woodsland monster, you see. Dustin explains to Jen that this monster kills men and abducts women to mate with. The monster is very similar in certain anatomical features to human males. Dustin tells Jen that this has been going on for over 30 years.
Now, this beggars a question or two.
1.) How does Dave know about the anatomical similarity between the monster, and human males?
2.) If he knew all of this, and how dangerous it was, why did he bring his wife out there, unarmed, to go skinny-dipping at night?
Maya, Dave, and Brooke return from town at the close of Dustin's tale, and Dustin mysteriously slips away without Jen noticing him doing so. It is at about this point that Maya's cocky ignoramus of a boyfriend shows up. Ooppssieee.
We are treated to a couple out camping, unassociated with Jen's merry little band, being attacked in their tent. The man gets ripped apart, and the woman is abducted. Oh no! Dustin was right! The problem is that Jen and her friends aren't aware of the attack, which would lend credence to Dustin's warning, if they did know.
Jen and Dave have a friendly conversation, and the movie's token, stereotypical douche bag, Brooke, accuses Dave of wanting to sleep with Jen. Brooke then goes off to get drunk with Maya and her cretin of a boyfriend. After getting drunk, Brooke confronts Dave, and then Jen, and then storms off, bottle in hand.
The usual monster-in-the-woods hijjnks ensue. Brooke finds herself lost and alone in the woods, at night. Panic sobers her up and she runs into Dustin. Dave, you see, was content to go to bed, not at all concerned about Brooke, where she was et cetera. Dustin brings Brooke back to Jen's place, where she confronts Dave. Brooke then storms off, taking Dave's truck. She then runs afoul of not one monster-in-the-woods, but two. We are left to assume that they abscond with Brooke.
The next morning, Dave finds that Brooke and his truck are gone, and assumes that Brooke took the truck and went into town. No one in the group seems overly concerned with Brooke. They party on without her. They head out onto the lake in Jen's late father's pontoon boat, where Dave tells everyone that he's breaking it off with Brooke when he sees her again.
Jen, Dave, Maya, and Maya's obnoxious twit of a boyfriend go camping, where Dave announces that he has enlisted into a branch of the military, and will be leaving for boot camp in two weeks. It is unclear whether or not Brooke knew this. Maya and her boyfriend, Tommy, retire for the evening, and Dave ends up in Jen's tent. Maya's boyfriend heads off into the woods to relieve himself, and is killed by one of the Bigfoot-like creatures.
When Tommy doesn't come back, Maya expressed concern, but Dave tells her not to worry. Dave's a hell of a guy. He didn't give a crap when Brooke disppeared, and he didn't care when Tommy disappeared. To placate Jen and Maya, Dave goes looking for Tommy. He finds Tommy, ripped to shreds, and is then killed himself. This leaves Maya and Jen in the tent, alone.
Huddled in the tent, the girls hear something grunting and growling and shuffling around outside. Jen tells Maya that if she closed her eyes and stays quiet, whatever it is will go away. Once things grow quiet, Jen and Maya leave the tent to go to the pontoon boat, but it's gone. They hear a growl close by and flee, and Maya finds what's left of Tommy. Maya is so devastated that she can't walk, forcing Jen to carry her.
Jen and Maya find a place to hide, and Jen leaves Maya hidden to go and scout the area. One of the monsters finds Maya, and Dustin shows up with his shotgun to find Jen. For some reason, instead of staying with the armed Dustin, Jen seems it more prudent to panic and run blindly into the woods.
Jen runs through the night, and into the next morning. She has no idea where she's going, she's just going. She runs and swims and runs some more, and then finds a bridge and a stretch of road. Here, she stops to make a phone call. While she does this, one of the monsters shows up. Then, about half a dozen more show up, and Jen is dragged away into the woods.
The end.
Wait. Where is the intrepid Dustin and his trusty shotgun? Who knows? You don't see him again after he finds Jen, just as one of the monsters finds Maya. Should we assume that he's dead? Should we assume that the unnamed camper, Brooke, Maya, and Jen are all now forest brides?
Hey, at least the movie lacked one of the usual idiotic horror movie tropes so common today... no service. Jen's phone worked just fine. She just didn't use it to call anyone for help.
