YellowBrickRoad 2011

As the curtain falls on 1940, the sleepy town of Friar stirs from its collective slumber, ignited by an inexplicable passion for the cinematic masterpiece - The Wizard of Oz. Much like Dorothy’s house swept up by a tornado, the entire population of 572 mysteriously vanishes into the expansive wilderness, leaving only their abandoned clothing and the lingering echoes of an unsettling mystery. The grim find of merely 300 recovered bodies, some forever frozen in time while others are shockingly slaughtered, stands as a somber reminder of the town’s enigmatic fate. The destinies of the remaining 272 individuals remain buried in secrecy, as the government classifies the tragic series of events that led to this catastrophe. Even as years pass, the town’s dark past persists like an open wound that refuses to heal.

Jumping to the present, a film crew spearheaded by Teddy arrives at Friar’s movie theatre with a singular goal: to dissect the enigma surrounding the missing townspeople and dig into the secrets hidden along the ill-fated path. This team includes Melissa (Teddy’s wife), Walter, sibling cartographers Daryl and Erin Luger, forestry expert Cy, and enthusiastic intern Jill. They are buoyed by their camaraderie with local theater employee Liv, who agrees to accompany them on this treacherous quest.

As they traverse the haunting landscape, initial feelings of unity begin to erode beneath the unsettling presence of dissonant, almost omniscient music, which abruptly shatters their tranquillity. The fragile strands of friendship fray when Daryl lashes out violently at his sister Erin, resulting in her tragic and bloody demise. In a struggle to contain their troubled colleague, Teddy and Cy manage to drag Daryl back to the group, where he reveals his chilling insight: “the land is like liquid.” He confesses that both he and Erin had decoded the coordinates leading to the trail’s ominous endpoint - the source of the harrowing music they hear.

Turning back, battered by the now deafening feedback, they stumble upon Erin’s body, grotesquely posed as a scarecrow surrounded by a colossal deadfall. Teddy tries to scale the towering structure but is distracted when Cy becomes momentarily entranced. In this critical lapse, Daryl seizes Cy’s machete, escaping with the group’s scant supplies and the last vehicle. The crew soon realizes they are still heading northward, further from their origin, as encroaching darkness envelops them like a suffocating shroud.

In a fit of desperation, Cy resorts to taking Liv hostage at knifepoint, insisting she accompanies him on a treacherous journey south, driven by an all-consuming urge to protect her. Meanwhile, the escalating tension between Teddy and Melissa culminates in turmoil as they yield to their primal instincts. However, Teddy’s nighttime escapades come to an abrupt halt when he abandons Melissa just as dawn breaks, seeking out the cryptic town of Friar, leaving her alongside Walter and Jill.

As Liv and Cy embark on their solitary westward journey, they encounter hallucinogenic berries that distort their perceptions of reality. In a brief moment of clarity, Cy confesses to Liv his dark urges, yet instead of acting upon them, he pleads with her to end his life before it’s too late. Ignoring his desperate request, Liv seizes the moment and snaps his neck, liberating him from his anguish.

The following morning, Jill’s voracious appetite leads to tragedy as she devours the last of their food supply, resulting in her untimely death when she falls carelessly down a cliff. Walter, worn down by the relentless randomness of fate, takes control of his own demise, documenting it on camera. Melissa, too, finds herself hunted; Daryl relentlessly pursues her armed with Cy’s deadly machete, ultimately leaving her lifeless in the grass.

As Liv succumbs to the intoxicating effects of the toxic berries, she stumbles upon the dismembered body of Daryl and delivers a fatal stab with her trusty pocketknife. Lost in a haze of bliss, she collapses onto the luxuriant grass, oblivious to the horrific realities encompassing her.

In a moment of despair, Teddy, now shattered by the unyielding horrors he has faced, crawls toward the trail’s end, only to confront a chilling Usher who insists he take his seat in a disturbingly vacant theatre. Surrounded by an echoing silence pierced only by the faint sounds of distant applause, Teddy’s eyes are drawn to footage of Melissa being dragged into a grotesquely hellish landscape. Overcome by an overwhelming sense of despair and terror, Teddy’s screams resonate throughout the deserted theatre, leaving him eternally ensnared in this waking nightmare.