The Forest

Two middle-aged hikers, a husband and wife, are attacked in the Sierra Nevada wilderness. The husband is stabbed to death by an unseen assailant, and the killer then pursues the wife, slitting her throat. The brutal end of the first couple foreshadows the danger that will shadow the later campers.

Two Los Angeles couples, Steve and Sharon, and Charlie and Teddi, decide to escape the city with a camping trip. They plan to meet again at their destination that evening. The setup foreshadows a confrontation with past horrors resurfacing in the wilderness.

Sharon and Teddi depart ahead of their husbands, who intend to meet them later that evening. The separation creates the conditions for the nightmarish events to unfold in their absence.

The two women hike toward their planned campsite and are caught in a sudden thunderstorm. They set up a makeshift camp at the base of a waterfall to wait out the rain, unaware of the dangers nearby.

From a nearby cave, the ghosts of two young children, John and Jennifer, observe the campers. Their presence hints at a haunting that will soon intrude into the living world.

An apparition of the children's dead mother materializes before Sharon and Teddi, asking where her children are and then vanishing. The terrifying vision unsettles Teddi and heightens the women's fear.

Steve and Charlie, following behind, become lost as darkness descends. They struggle to find their way back to the river camp, adding to the sense of danger.

The ghosts of John and Jennifer visit their father, John Sr., a cannibalistic hermit who lives in a cave and hunts hikers, and tell him they saw two young women camping by the river. He begins to prepare for a pursuit.

John Sr. leaves to pursue the women; Sharon, awakened by the children's warning that 'daddy is coming,' flees the camp, leaving Teddi alone with the danger looming.

John Sr. stalks the camp and kills Teddi, while Sharon escapes by leaping into the river. The first direct kill tied to the cannibal father marks a turning point in the nightmarish events.

Seeking shelter from the rain, Steve and Charlie enter John Sr.'s cave and find it furnished with a fire pit roasting a slab of meat. The ghosts of John Jr. and Jennifer appear before John arrives, heightening the eerie atmosphere. John then offers the meat to the men and recounts the backstory of his family.

In the morning, Steve lies injured from a fall, and Sharon reunites with him. She then ambushes John, stabbing him to death. The ghosts bid Sharon and Steve farewell, and the mother's apparition appears once more before vanishing as the danger ends.