Welcome to Riverwood County. The year is 1993.
Our protagonist Andrew Bennett is being interrogated by Detective Reeves, who wants to know the answer to only one question: Where is Jack Rogers? The convict wants his side of the story told, so he starts from the beginning…
A few weeks before the interrogation, Laura Bennett kills herself. She was Andrew’s wife and Jack Rogers sister. Jack decides to visit Andrew at his farmhouse. Once arrived Andrew is taken by surprise as Jack is earlier than expected. Jack also becomes quickly surprised as he sees the house that he once had warm memories with his family is now packed up and ready to be moved on from.
Jack and Andrew drink their grief away.
As the night grows colder, Jack starts to suspect something is not right with Andrew. He fears he has discovered some horrifying evidence of what really happened to his sister Laura. Andrew becomes defensive and takes matters into his own hands. He brings Jack out into the woods, and chains him up to a tree.
Andrew visits Jack every day to feed him, and during this time Jack realizes what Andrew really is – a murderer and a psychopath.
After the absence at his sister’s funeral, Jack Rogers is declared missing. Once the police get involved, Andrew is pushed to make some decisions…
During his interrogation, Andrew admits that he killed both – Laura Bennett and Jack Rogers. Detective Reeves is furious. They have wasted all this time just to determine that Jack Rogers is dead.
Andrew’s case keeps Detective Reeves awake at night. He manages to gain new evidence and interrogates Andrew one last time.
When Andrew finally gives away that Jack is still out there, Detective Reeves starts searching where Andrew told him to – beyond the woods. The question now is: Is Jack Rogers still alive?
Brayden DeMorest-Purdy is originally from Toronto, Ontario and developed a passion for filmmaking at a very young age. Brayden began directing live TV shows at Rogers Television, a local TV studio, including a popular live breakfast television show called DayTime. He moved to Vancouver to follow his passion and his dream. Brayden graduated Vancouver Film School’s Film Production Program, with honours, while majoring in Directing and Cinematography. Since graduating, Brayden has continued to direct and produce independent films and music videos. Along with gaining experience on big budget film sets.
Although Beyond the Woods on the surface is a psychological thriller, the story is about family, loss, grief, survival and human behavior. My approach to shooting this film and bringing it to life was to be unique and different from other films.
The shooting style incorporates long takes and oners. This was to emphasize these uncomfortable moments, which our characters have no choice but to sit in, and which we want our audiences to experience with them. We want the viewer to see this film and understand these characters and to live this story as they do.
Furthermore, I wanted to surround these characters in an atmosphere that symbolizes isolation. This is why I decided to use winter woods as the main location of the film. In doing so, these characters are not only surrounded by a sense of emptiness, but elements that impact and raise the stakes to their situations.
Adding to the winter woods, there is a real opportunity to capture beauty within the frame, which I found very intriguing. I wanted to showcase this beauty surrounding our characters even though their circumstances were the complete opposite. I decided to use this contrasting dynamic to help the audience engage in the world visually while allowing them to maybe walk away after watching the film with a different perspective than the person next to them.