Backcountry

A couple from the big city decide to go hiking in the Canadian wilderness. Alex, played by Jeff Roop, appears to be an experienced outdoorsman while his girlfriend Jenn, played by Missy Peregrym, is a novice. After some persuasion, Jenn follows Alex deeper into the woods with a view of a remote trail to a beautiful lake. Their first night is unsettled when they encounter the mysterious Brad, played by Eric Balfour, but in the morning the pair continue further into the forest. After three days in the wilderness, one disaster after another strikes.

The 2014 film is Adam MacDonald's feature film debut. I think he succeeds well, as do the relatively unknown actors, who all give good performances. At first, you may get the impression of a lower-level movie, but you are soon drawn into a dense plot with creeping claustrophobic undertones where the idyllic tranquility of nature turns into the unprepared hikers' worst nightmare. The movie is nail-bitingly watchable.

The story is loosely based on real events from 2005 in Ontario, Canada and the filmmaker has promoted the film by using known facts about black bear behavior, which is interesting and makes the story more believable. However, it is also the case that there are a lot of myths and stories about bears and other predators that seem to have been used throughout history to scare people for various reasons. In fact, the risk of being killed by an attacking black bear is as much as 60,000 times lower than being murdered by a fellow human being at some point in your lifetime. In Sweden, our brown bear has caused 5 deaths since 1900, which can be compared, for example, to the number of people killed in traffic during the same period. For those of us who have been close to bears for a long time in Sweden, Alaska and Canada, this is not new and we always look forward to the next bear meeting.

It eventually emerges that the movie's Alex may not have been as experienced as he first claimed. Preparation, planning and a map are always important no matter what kind of adventure you are facing.