Directed by Alix Lambert, the 2024 fantasy horror film “The Woods Are Real” is one of the most bizarre watches you will ever have. The film has no meaning. Even if it does, the convoluted nature of the storytelling destroys it totally. A simple story of enlightenment takes a rather unnecessarily complicated turn as a couple finds themselves lost in the woods.
The background score tries to create an eerie atmosphere, but the screenplay drastically fails in its objective. It is a film made without proper preparation, which is evident as the story is not at all connected to the message that it seems to address. All in all, if you love bizarre stories, you can give it a watch because, thankfully, the film is not longer than 80 minutes.
Spoilers Ahead
The Woods Are Real (2024) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis:
The film starts with a dinner between friends that is long overdue because Caleb had disappeared for three months without letting anyone know where he was going. This is the topic of discussion on the table as Caleb explains that he finds enlightenment while spending time in the woods. He does not say much about what he is doing in the woods. He just seemed to be very calm about everything, which intrigues Joba, his best friend. Joba understands that being away from humanity for three months can affect a person’s mental health. But Caleb seems to be reacting very normally, apart from his very calm exterior.
Later, when Joba’s wife Quincy tells Caleb about her fundraiser, Caleb’s response surprises everyone. Caleb says that fundraisers do not actually help on a bigger scale and do not solve anything. He describes it as a hobby of rich people because it satisfies their sense of justice as they think that they are doing something good for society. But, in the end, the children for whom they are raising the funds go back to the same old place they come from. Hearing this, Quincy angrily puts some cake on Caleb’s face and asks him to leave. Caleb does not get angry as he calmly leaves the house, bidding them good night.
What does Caleb Send as an Apology?
Soon after Caleb leaves their house, Joba does not understand how to react to the situation as he then apologizes to Caleb and his boyfriend, Stan. Quincy does not take this lightly, as she does not want her husband to take Caleb’s side. Since Caleb is gay and Joba is bisexual, Quincy brings up the topic from their childhood about being intimate and all. Joba somehow manages to manipulate his wife into a romantic conversation, but Quincy just cuts Joba a little as a token of sweet revenge. During this time, Joba receives a text from Caleb.
Caleb sends the image of the cabin he was staying at while he was in the woods. He tells Joba to spend some time there. Moreover, he expresses a feeling that it will be beneficial for both him and Quincy. He says that this is his treat. It’s his apology for being rude to Quincy. Joba and Quincy seem to love the gesture as they leave for the cabin the following day. While they are traveling to the woods, Joba expresses his urge to become a father of a colored boy or girl. Since he already has a colored woman as his wife, this will make him establish a stronger position in society.
Why do Joba and Quincy Run Away from the Cabin?
Right after the couple sets foot inside the cabin, weird things start to take place, starting with the falling down of certain things. Later, Quincy and Joba get into a conversation about selling Joba’s watch factory because it is just too old in terms of modern-age technology. Later, Quincy realizes that she is pregnant. When she comes to share the news with Joba, she sees him picking up something from the floor. Joba says that these things have their names written on them, even Caleb’s as well. Right then, the door shuts loudly, creating a tense atmosphere inside the cabin.
Soon after, the gramophone starts to play a distorted voice that is somehow ordering the couple to submit themselves to God. Later, Joba and Quincy both find out that they are receiving texts from their banks, and all of their money is gone. They do not have any idea of how this is all happening. But these are the facts taking place one after another. Deciding to look at the issue once they reach home, Joba and Quincy leave the cabin. However, as soon as they get out of the cabin and look back, the cabin is not there. They find themselves in a deep forest with nowhere to go. Basically, they come out of a cabin and get lost in the woods.
How does Joba lose Quincy?
As they start surviving each day inside the unending woods, one day, Joba hears a gunshot not far away. He calls out for help, but Quincy tells him not to. As soon as they see the man with the axe, they hide themselves. The man with the axe steals Quincy’s bag, which contains their food. Later, Joba comes up with the idea of following the footprints of the man. Soon after, Joba finds a tent, and in front of it, there is meat boiling. Joba starts eating while the man with the axe grabs hold of Quincy. He orders Joba through Quincy to sit like a good boy. When Joba turns back, he has lost Quincy and the man.
Joba starts looking for Quincy, and after a while, he finds her sitting in front of a tent. The man with the axe finally interacts with Joba, saying that he has passed the level. The game is created by the man himself in which the husband needs to come looking for his wife to prove his love toward her. Soon after, the man gives both Quincy and Joba tea to drink. In Joba’s tea he has mixed something that puts him unconscious. When Joba opens his eyes, he finds himself on the other side of the woods. Thus, he loses Quincy to the man with the axe.
What does Joba learn from Caleb?
When Joba starts finding Quincy’s whereabouts, he finds the table where he used to sit in his school days. Later, he finds a note hidden under the table that says, ‘I will bury you alive.’ Soon after, he sees Caleb buried alive nearby as he somehow gets out of the hole. Caleb then discloses the fact that previously, when he was here, he had to go through four steps to be enlightened. In other words, in exchange for freedom, he had to go through four stages: Repent, Submit, Accept, and Sacrifice.
Since Caleb does not have any family and he never had a long-standing relationship, he gave up his best friend Joba to pass the sacrifice stage. However, he doesn’t understand why he is brought back to the woods. Joba starts to understand the scheme here as this is some serious thing going on, and he needs to find Quincy without wasting much time. Meanwhile, Quincy is going along with the man with the axe while trying to find a way to get rid of the man once and for all.
What does Quincy do to the Man with the Axe?
Quincy and Joba know that the man with the axe has everything on them. He has even collected newspapers where they have been mentioned. He literally has their bank statements and bills as well. So, they are under the impression that to get out of the woods alive, they need to get past the man, or else they will not survive. Quincy learns that she is the first woman to come into the woods who is pregnant. While the man somehow intrigues Quincy into establishing an intimate connection, Quincy also manipulates him into the position where she wants him to be.
Later, we see Quincy stabbing the man with a sharp branch of a tree. This makes the man scream really hard. Caleb and Joba hear the scream, and Caleb tells Joba that it is his time to repent. This makes Joba so angry because his doubt about losing Quincy turns into reality, so he starts chasing Caleb. He hides himself for a while so that he can attack Caleb and when he does, he ends up killing him. Soon after, when Joba is washing his blood-soaked hands, he hears some women singing afar. He follows the sound and finds a meadow where he sees a woman standing inside a house.
What does Joba learn from the Widows?
When Joba enters the cottage-like house, he finds six women sitting at a dinner table. Joba seeks food from them as he learns that all of them are widows. They have been in similar situations to Joba and Quincy. However, unlike Joba, their husbands are dead, and Joba thinks that his wife, Quincy, is dead. The eldest of them all explains that their husbands were put in the same position as Joba. They were all killed by the man with the axe. However, they were told that if a man ever comes alive to the cottage, if he is a good man, they will be freed.
When asked whether Joba is a good man or not, he tells them a story where he killed his pet just to get rid of his father’s scolding. Knowing that Joba is not a good man, they lose hope and understand that they will not be free at all. Soon after, Quincy enters the cottage, and Joba runs toward her. When the widows learn that Quincy has already killed the man with the axe, they all start screaming, saying that now they have to answer to the god. Joba tries to explain to them that now they are free, but the manipulation does not stop working.
The man with the axe already manipulated them into creating a world where they honestly believe that some good man will come as their savior. But in this world, no one is perfect, just like no one is ‘only’ good. This is a place where the story gains some attention as the metaphor of manipulation through religion and God takes center stage. The pilgrims believe what they are told to believe. Thus, Caleb describes the whole thing as a pilgrimage.
The Woods Are Real (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Does Joba and Quincy Sacrifice Their Unborn Child?
Seeing the widows behaving madly, Joba and Quincy run away from them into the forest again. Later that night, Joba sees a young boy walking toward them, whom Quincy describes as their unborn child. Quincy tries to make Joba understand that they can not let this child come amidst such conditions. They do not have any clue where they will be in the coming days. They don’t even know whether they will be able to return to their home. So, Quincy thinks that they must not give birth to this child as surviving is already a huge task for them. How can they enable the survival of a newborn baby in the woods?
The following morning, Quincy sleeps on a huge stone that bears the marking of a double cross, which they have encountered on numerous occasions earlier, right after they entered the cabin. Joba picks up a thick branch and, as they discussed earlier, prepares himself to hit it on Quincy’s belly so that the child dies. But before he can actually do anything, a scream is heard from afar, perhaps causing him to pause his action. At the end of the film, we see Joba and Quincy celebrating their son’s birthday. The son is the same who appeared before, that night in the woods.
It is perhaps because they have already gone through all the processes before, which do not require the sacrifice of their child. Joba and Quincy had already repented so many times for trusting a friend, and they came to the cabin seeking enlightenment, which can be compared to greed. Later, they submitted themselves to fate and even accepted it. But, their survival instinct helps them to get out of the situation right after accepting it. Everyone else before perhaps lost their willpower as soon as they accepted the fact that they could not leave the woods.
Last but not least, Joba has killed his best friend Caleb for his own reasons. This is his sacrifice. On the other hand, for a mother, deciding to kill her child so that the person does not have to face the cruelty of the world is itself a huge sacrifice. Since all four stages were completed by the couple, a higher power intervenes at the moment when Joba and Quincy are actually going to kill their unborn child. The authority then perhaps helps them get back into their lives as they give birth to the son they didn’t wish to.
