After the mayor of Boggy Creek is murdered, local reporter Kendall Sharp of KRKR-8 News delivers a sharp, ongoing account of disappearances and unsolved murders. Early coverage toys with the idea that a Bigfoot might be pulling the strings behind the violence, but the chatter soon widens to include Eddie Justertin, Billy Blair, a ruthless member of a self-styled Dixieland mafioso family, as a possible suspect. The town’s fear thickens as the mystery deepens and the forest seems to turn opaque with danger.
Six young adults — Steve, Heather Taylor Weaver, Amanda, Danny Thom Hallum, Jo, and Collyn — trespass into a closed section of a state park to camp for the weekend. What starts as a carefree escape soon spirals into horror: after volleyball, some beers, and a few moments of togetherness, the group splits up, and Bigfoot strikes. The attack is brutal and vivid, and several campers are killed right before the audience’s eyes, shattering the idea of a simple wildlife encounter. The following day, Sheriff Jim Taylor, Holt Boggs, and Deputy Walton, David Sullivan, arrive to investigate. They learn that one victim, Steve McTee, is the son of a powerful local oil tycoon who is pressing the department to solve the case. An official briefing hints that five bodies have been recovered and that a female camper is still missing. The sheriff, stubbornly trusting a bear as the most likely culprit, clashes with the deputy, who believes the threat is rooted in Bigfoot.
Across town, ex-deputy Mark Klein, Frederic Doss, surfaces as a missing and disheveled woman named Dakota is found running through the woods. He rescues her and glimpses a Bigfoot before delivering Dakota to the hospital for care. At the hospital, Dr. Leonard Evans, Judd Nelson, remarks that the wounds don’t match bear marks, even if the paperwork will still list a bear as the cause of death. The sheriff’s attempt to break the news to Dakota’s family falters when he encounters hostility at Dakota’s home.
That evening, the sheriff’s daughter Savannah heads to the local drive-in with her boyfriend Billy. In a brutal reversal, Bigfoot arrives at the drive-in, crushes Billy, and then drags Savannah off into the woods, deeper into the nightmare the town is beginning to fear.
The next day, Sharp teams up with her cameraman Aaron to press into the woods in search of the elusive creature. They track the beast, are chased through the trees, and narrowly escape with their lives. Back at the sheriff’s office, the posse formed by Sheriff Taylor, Deputy Walton, and Dakota’s father reunites to rejoin the search, driven by a mix of duty and dread.
In a tense turn, Sharp and Aaron stumble upon Eddie Justertin’s hideout. Eddie fires warning shots, then a fatal shot from point-blank range narrowly misses the reporters. The two sprint away, but Aaron is killed in an ensuing explosion triggered by a landmine. Sharp, wielding Aaron’s gun, fires at Bigfoot but does not manage a kill. The arriving posse rallies, and Deputy Walton shoots Bigfoot multiple times, finally bringing one creature down. Yet the victory is hollow as Walton is immediately struck down, impaled by a spear fired from off-screen.
Meanwhile, Zeke [C. Thomas Howell] performs a rustic Bigfoot call, and a second creature emerges from the woods, which Zeke promptly shoots in the head. In a long, impassioned speech, Zeke explains to the sheriff and Sharp that all female Bigfoot have gone extinct, and that the remaining males must survive by abducting human females and impregnating them. The hospital reveals Dakota’s pregnancy, adding a personal stake to the looming confrontation.
Dakota eventually gives birth and asks to see her baby, adding a fragile thread of humanity to the carnage around them. In the woods, the posse discovers a hidden Bigfoot lair where the creatures torment and assault their human victims. There they find Savannah alive and rescued by the sheriff, while Zeke confronts a predator with a sledgehammer and decapitates it, hoisting the head as a grim trophy. The two girls flee the lair, but a plan to seal the cave with explosives backfires, driving a wedge between the two rescue teams.
Zeke and Sheriff Taylor finally emerge into a clearing, where more than a dozen Bigfoot emerge from the trees to surround them. They manage to shoot a few, but their ammunition and resolve are outmatched. Zeke fires a rocket launcher at the advancing beasts, but the numbers overwhelm them. Armed only with a machete and a sledgehammer, the two men hold their ground as the monstrous swarm closes in, and they are ripped apart by the relentless, merciless line of Bigfoot. The forest closes in behind them, leaving viewers with the chilling, inexorable sense that the danger may not be finished, and that some wounds run too deep to ever fully heal.
