Hoax 2018

In a remote wilderness, six college students set up camp for a rugged excursion, only to be stalked by a mysterious creature. Five of them are killed in the night, while one, Alex Barnes, vanishes without a trace. The grim incident becomes known as the Mountaineering Massacre, a haunting mystery that unsettles the investigation and leaves the wilderness feeling relentlessly hostile.

Years later, a struggling film producer named Rick Paxton approaches his former employer, Roger Brannan, with a bold pitch: reframe the Massacre as a Bigfoot attack, not a bear incident, to craft a blockbuster TV show. Brannan agrees, but only if Paxton can produce credible proof first. The stakes are high, and Paxton is determined to prove his theory, whatever it takes.

To film the expedition, Paxton assembles a diverse team. He enlists his assistant Danny, his cameraman Justin, a social media vlogger named Brigette, a primate specialist known as Dr. Ellen, a helicopter pilot called Jonesy—with his loyal bulldog Ike—along with Sasquatch expert Peter, security man John Singer, and Cooper, the grieving father of the missing Alex. Their plan is straightforward on paper: set up a trail camera with bait and pheromones to lure a response from the elusive creature and capture definitive evidence.

Initial attempts yield little progress. When Peter returns to check the camera, a hidden predator strikes, leaving the team shaken by an unseen attack. In a nearby cave, they discover intestines hanging from the ceiling and a vaguely menacing shape on the footage, but their understanding remains frustratingly incomplete. Tensions simmer as Brigette’s constant complaints grate on Paxton, and in a moment of desperation, Paxton secretly coats Brigette’s coat with pheromones. The plan backfires when the scent attracts the creature directly to her, injuring her ankle and forcing a choice between care and progress.

Tragedy continues to mount: Jonesy and Ike are ambushed at the helicopter. Ike is ripped open, and Jonesy’s skull is crushed, shattering the crew’s sense of safety. Back at camp, the creature leaves a bloody paw print on Brigette’s gear, heightening the fear that this hunt is unraveling into something far more dangerous. The group discovers a vast footprint in the ground that seems to confirm a Bigfoot’s presence, yet the mystery remains unsolved. Paxton, Ellen, and Cooper also uncover a critical clue as they struggle to interpret what they’re facing.

With the SAT Phone from the helicopter lost and the rescue option eroded, the team’s situation grows dire. Danny races back to camp on an ATV only to find the SAT Phone wrecked and Jonesy dead. Injured but trying to keep moving, he limps back to the camp under the weight of a growing sense of dread. Nightfall tightens the noose around the group: Cooper, Singer, and Justin venture out to track the creature, but the plan goes awry. Singer is killed, Cooper and Justin sprint back to warn the others, and the creature tears through the camp, finishing off Danny in a merciless display of power. In a moment of panic, Paxton shoots Brigette and, when Cooper intervenes, he fires at him too before fleeing into the dark.

Ellen and Justin manage to escape with Cooper’s help and stumble upon a seemingly ordinary cabin with parked cars. Inside, an older woman named Charlotte opens the door and, after knocking Ellen unconscious, reveals a terrifying truth: she and her two sons, Luc and Gage, are a cannibalistic family masquerading as monster storytellers to misdirect suspicion. A brutal sequence unfolds as Luc drags Justin into a shed for a grisly dissection, while Charlotte and Gage torment Cooper and reveal that Ellen is to become Gage’s wife. The revelation shatters any sense of safety as Ellen fights back, douses Charlotte with scalding water and uses a frying pan to bluntly defend herself, ultimately killing Charlotte and Gage in a frantic struggle.

Ellen seizes a nearby car in a desperate bid for freedom, running over Luc as she tries to escape. A crash into a tree activates a 911 system, and a dispatcher promises help, but Charlotte reappears, attacking Ellen through the open window in a final, chilling confrontation.

Meanwhile, Paxton’s pursuit of the truth reaches a head in the woods: with his ammo exhausted, he comes face-to-face with the genuine Bigfoot, a confrontation that underscores the peril of chasing legends and the unpredictable power of the unknown.

The tale unfolds as a brutal blend of survival, pursuit, and the danger of chasing sensational stories. What began as an ambitious television pitch devolves into a harrowing descent into both human and primal savagery, ending with Paxton standing before the real creature in the shadowed trees, a moment that leaves the fate of everyone involved uncertain and the wilderness forever charged with menace.