Backcountry (film)

Alex and his girlfriend Jenn travel from the city to a provincial nature reserve in Ontario, Canada to go camping for the weekend in hopes of exploring a trail he loved when he was younger. Upon arriving, Alex refuses a map, and goes against warnings from the park ranger, confident that he knows the area well. On the first night after they set up camp deep in the forest, they encounter an Irish tour guide named Brad who Jenn invites to have dinner with them. Brad flirts with Jenn, annoying Alex and creating a tense situation. The two ultimately confront one another and Brad leaves.

The following morning, Alex decides to go off-trail, deeper into the woods, looking for a lake he remembers, with a waterfall. On the way, he sees a bear paw print in the ground but does not alert Jenn. They also discover a half-eaten deer carcass. When they arrive at where Alex believes the lake to be, it is not there and he realises they are lost. Panicked, Jenn looks for her cell phone to call for help but Alex reveals he removed it from her backpack and left it in the car, worried that she would be distracted by it all weekend. The pair argue, with Jenn calling Alex a "loser" and revealing that she never wanted to come hiking in the first place. Alex tells her he was planning to propose.

They make camp for the night and, as the pair sleep, a huge black bear approaches the tent. In the morning, they find all of their food has been eaten. As they continue hiking, they come across a bear bed and, realising there is a bear near, decide to walk as far as they can while it's light. The following morning, Alex awakens to see the bear a few metres from the tent. It approaches and eventually claws its way through, injuring Jenn's arm. She briefly wards it off with bear spray but it returns, and Jenn watches in horror as Alex is dragged from the tent and the bear brutally mauls him to death. Jenn flees without any belongings apart from the ring Alex was to propose to her with.

Jenn rests for the night high up in a tree; she awakes to the sound of a helicopter overhead, but fails to get its attention. Stalked again by the bear, she manages to escape by climbing down a waterfall, but slips and breaks her ankle. Using a makeshift splint, she struggles through the park using her flare as a guide. Miraculously, Jenn makes it back to their starting point where they left their canoe. She paddles back to the park entrance and collapses in the parking lot. Brad, who is getting ready to lead a tour, notices her and rushes over to help.

• Missy Peregrym as Jen
• Jeff Roop as Alex
• Eric Balfour as Brad
• Nicholas Campbell as The Ranger
• Chester and Charlie as The Bear ^[7]

Backcountry is loosely based on the true story of a hungry man-eating black bear that attacked Mark Jordan and Jacqueline Perry, in the back country of Missinaibi Lake Provincial Park, North of Chapleau, Ontario in 2005, events for which Mark later received the Star of Courage award from Governor General Michaëlle Jean.^[8][9]

Production took place from October through November 2013.^[10] The film was shot in Powassan, Ontario and Caddy Lake, Manitoba and was funded by Telefilm Canada and Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.^[10]

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2014.^[3]