The Barrens

Richard Vineyard and his family leave their suburban home for a camping trip in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. On the road they pass a mutilated deer, signaling a sense of danger lurking in the woods. They check into a crowded commercial campsite and prepare for their first night outdoors.

That evening a camper tells a Jersey Devil story and the group plays a scary prank on the Vineyards. Richard overreacts, embarrassing the family in front of other campers. The incident seeds unease that lingers into the night.

Richard dreams he is chased through a field and wakes to find Cynthia in the forest, having left the tent while asleep. He accuses her of infidelity, a claim she struggles to understand. She reassures him, and the tension begins to mix with their physical ailment and fatigue.

It is revealed that Cynthia is Richard's second wife, and he is taking pain medication for a wound from before the trip. Richard's fragile mental state becomes increasingly evident as the night wears on. The family starts to feel the pressure of isolation in the woods.

One of the prank campers is missing, casting a shadow over the camp. Weakened by illness, Richard leads his family deeper into the forest away from established trails to a more remote campsite. The move signals a breakdown of their planned vacation.

While resting, Danny discovers the disemboweled corpse of the missing camper but keeps silent about it. Richard's health deteriorates further, and his irritability grows as he hallucinates. The family struggles to maintain composure as fear takes hold.

The group finds an abandoned campsite with a decomposed dog carcass and a destroyed tent. Ryan follows them secretly and communicates with Sadie by cell phone, while Richard tries to confiscate her device. Paranoia and surveillance intensify the sense of being hunted.

Cynthia announces they will go home the next day, attempting to restore some normalcy. Richard's mental state continues to deteriorate, and it is revealed that his wound came from the family's rabid dog. The uneasy atmosphere presses on the family as they prepare for an uncertain exit.

Richard sleepwalks again and wakes surrounded by mist, confronted by the looming Jersey Devil. The forest seems to close in as the creature remains just out of reach, heightening the sense of imminent danger. The family begins to grasp they may not leave the woods as planned.

Cynthia gathers the family to move forward, but Danny and Richard get ahead and vanish from sight. Cynthia calls the police and she and Sadie discover Ryan's disemboweled body along with Richard's knife nearby. The disappearances deepen the mystery and fear.

Danny is found later and the family is reunited with a hunter who rescues Sadie and Danny, guiding them back to their parents. The police locate the missing campers' bodies, heightening the sense of a deadly force in the woods. Richard returns, attacks the hunter to seize a rifle, and the Jersey Devil appears in the area.

The sheriff shoots Richard after mistaking his aim for Sadie’s safety, though the Jersey Devil then attacks, killing the sheriff. A forest ranger witnesses the monster’s rampage and flees in terror. In the chaos that follows, Sadie and Danny survive and begin to face the truth of what they've seen.

Sometime later, Sadie is interviewed by authorities, and her account is dismissed as psychological trauma. Undeterred, she joins the ranger and a group of hunters with the intent to hunt down the Jersey Devil. The tragedy leaves her with a resolve to pursue the truth at any cost.