Enter Nowhere
Enter Nowhere (also known as The Haunting of Black Wood)[1] is a 2011 psychological thriller film directed by Jack Heller and starring Scott Eastwood, Sara Paxton, and Katherine Waterston.[2][3][4]
Enter Nowhere | |
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Directed by | Jack Heller |
Produced by | Jack Heller Dallas Sonnier |
Written by | Shawn Christensen Jason Dolan |
Starring | Scott Eastwood Sara Paxton Katherine Waterston Shaun Sipos Jesse J. Perez |
Music by | Darren Morze |
Cinematography | Tom Harting |
Distributed by | Lionsgate |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The film was rereleased under the title The Haunting of Black Wood in 2015.[1]
Plot
Jody (Sara Paxton) and her boyfriend Kevin Banks (Christopher Denham) went to rob a convenience store. Jody held a gun to the cashier (Jesse J. Perez), demanding he open an old safe. Cryptically, he told her that he would do so, but he did not believe she could handle what was inside. Clearly not amused, she shot and killed him.
With the money in her vest, she jumped in her car and drove away, only to end up at the cabin which was in the middle of nowhere. She did not know how she got there, but it was there she met two other people, who arrived in a similar fashion: Samantha "Sam" (Katherine Waterston) was a quiet reserved woman who was quite unnerved about being lost; Tom (Scott Eastwood) was more vocal and more sarcastic about the situation.
However just like the other women, Tom soon became frantic over the inability to leave. The trio even ventured into the woods to escape, only to return to the cabin. Jody made the observation that the place was like Pac-Man: You go out one door only to arrive on the same board. Tom then questioned how to "get to the next level".
Things became even stranger when the three were convinced they were in different states. Odder still, they each believed the year was different. When Sam told Jody that it was 1962, she had to catch her breath before stating it was 1985. Tom came in and they both ran over to ask him what year it was and he answered 2011.
As the three tried to figure out what was happening, they saw a figure outside. They went outside to see what was going on and were greeted by a soldier with a gun. The man, Hans Neumann (Shaun Sipos), was a German soldier. Luckily, Sam spoke German, but she was unable to convince Hans. Hans knack Tom out and tied him up in the woods, while the women was tied up inside the cabin. Hans attempted to find out what was going on, but things got hostile as he believed the three were holding back information. He was not impressed nor did he believe that the three were confused as to how they got there.
However, after Hans found out both Jody and Sam possessed the same locket that ought to belong to his wife, he became frantic and demanding an explanation. Hans took the women out to where Tom was tied, only to be knock unconscious by Tom, who had untied himself. After Hans was tied up, Sam began to realize that Hans was her father, who was killed during an airstrike in Poland. It was then Jody revealed her name was Jody Cohen and she was the daughter of Sam and her husband, Adam Cohen, who was killed during the Vietnam War. Sam died of childbirth, while Jody was raised by Cohen's parents, who "were not big fans of Sam". During her childhood, Jody was abused by her alcoholic grandfather, who even left scar on her. The three now realized all four people were related as Tom identified Jody as his mother, who were executed for murdering his father Kevin and the cashier in addition to armed robbery of gas stations all over the Midwest.
Sam decided to free Hans and explained everything to him. Hans did not attack the trio, however, he decided to leave the cabin to carry on his mission. The three further shared each's "dream": Sam had a dream that she was about to give birth to Jody, but she was alone and helpless in her house; Jody had a dream that she was executed by lethal injection; Tom had a dream that he killed a priest (Vic Finalborgo), who wronged him, before committing suicide. Sam then found out they were in fact all in the woods outside Wieluń in 1945, where Hans was killed in an airstrike that was about to happen.
Tom concluded with an assumption that they must save Hans from being killed in the coming airstrike. If they succeeded, Sam would not be alone during her childbirth as she would be accompanied by her mother. Hence, Jody would grow up with a mother instead of being adopted by her abusing parental grand parents, making her become a criminal. Tom would then avoid killing the priest and committing suicide. He then went outside and followed Hans. The two ended up fighting, while Jody was critically wounded when she was accidentally shot by Hans as she tried to save Tom. Tom later disappeared in front of Hans when Jody died of her wound. Enraged upon seeing the death of Jody and the erase of Tom, Sam accused Hans for killing both before the airstrike.
Eventually, Sam convinced Hans to go into the shelter with her. During their escape, Sam fell and had her head hit by a rock. Hans then carried her and the two managed to enter the shelter in time. When in the shelter, Hans noticed that Sam's existence was "on-and-off" before she disappeared into nowhere.
Jody, now dressing differently, came to realize that she was in the grocery store in 1985 where she committed robbery in the previous timeline. She paid the cashier for her purchase and went home before another criminal couples robbed the store in a same manner of the Jody from previous timeline, including demanding the cashier to open the "safe".
It is revealed that Hans had survived the airstrike and left Germany for the United States after the World War II. He then became a philanthrope and died in 1985. Sam survived her childbirth and now lived with Jody in a happy life.
References
- Duffus, Paul (19 February 2015). "'The Haunting of Black Wood' Contains No Haunting Whatsoever". PopMatters.
- Lanzagorta, Marco (22 April 2012). "Reassessing Parenthood in 'Enter Nowhere'". PopMatters.
- "Enter Nowhere". The New York Times.
- Pritchard, Paul (March 28, 2012). "Enter Nowhere". DVD Verdict.