Early 1900s, Night. An old church and adjacent cemetery is seen, intermittently illuminated by lightning flashes. As fat raindrops begin to splatter down we catch glimpses of something lumbering slowly out of the cemetery.

Early 1900s, Day. An old cabin is seen nestled in the pine forest with vines growing up the outside walls. A hired hand, somewhat sinister looking, is seen raking straw into a pile in the barnyard. While he gathers straw to be stored, a woman named RACHEL SPENCER around 30 years old comes out of the cabin carrying a bucket and begins to draw water from the well in the yard. As a gust of wind blows open the barn door she sets aside her water pail and heads to the barn. She enters the barn, at which time the hired hand drops his rake and follows her in. We hear the sounds of a struggle and suddenly the mans bloody body is thrown out the barn door! More sounds of struggle are accompanied by the woman screaming, No, NO! Leave me be!, and then there is silence.

Early 1900s, Night, Nine Months Later. We hear a dog barking. The cabin door opens, the now clearly pregnant woman dressed in a long black garment, steps out of the cabin and begins to walk toward the barking dog. The dog continues barking in the direction of a barn. The woman walks over to the barn and opens the door. She is holding a lantern high above her head, we see she is wearing a necklace that gives off an unusual glow in the lantern light. She steps inside the barn and approaches a stall. Suddenly she is surprised by a ghostly sound as she finds herself nearly face to face with some thing. It rises and begins to cast a shadow over her, she speaks to it, What do you want of me? It replies, My offspring will be born soon. She retorts, Ill have your spawn and when it is born I shall kill it! You will NOT own me! At that moment the shadow rises from the depths of the stall and looms over her. She swings the lantern at it, smashing it in the process and setting fire to the being and the barn. She runs terrified from the barn calling out to a midwife whos come to assist with the birth. The trauma has induced her labor. As the midwife helps her into the cabin and thence through the birth, we see a shadow on the cabin wall of the midwife cradling the newborn in her arms. As we watch, we see the infants severely deformed arm/hand reach out towards its Mothers throat as she lays with dead eyes staring blindly at the ceiling.

1988, Summer, Late Afternoon, we see a family having a picnic near the edge of a wooded area. Sitting on a blanket, a Mother, a Father, and little girl named RACHEL. Shes about 11 years old. We move in closer and see that the Mother is wearing the same necklace weve seen on the Mother in the early part of the century. The Mother begins gathering a few items up from the blanket and is putting them into a basket, little RACHEL asks her mother if she can go pick some flowers. Her mother tells her yes, but dont go too far. RACHEL is walking along picking flowers when she comes upon an old cemetery. She walks into the cemetery and suddenly stops in front of a tombstone with the name Rachel Spencer inscribed on it. She gazes at it for a few moments and proceeds to bend over and lay some of the flowers she had picked on the grave. As she stands upright we can see her holding a familiar necklace shes picked up from the gravestone. Suddenly an ominous shadow comes over her. She screams and runs back to the picnic site, arriving only to find her mother and father lying upon the blood soaked blanket with holes through their chests!

10 years have passed, we see RACHEL, now a young woman, sitting in a college classroom listening to a professor, (named PROFESSOR DANIELS) who is holding a picture of a monument located in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The professor is pointing to an inscription on the monument as he tells the class about a Mexican pilot, who flew from Mexico to the United States in the 1920s. En route back to Mexico he encountered bad weather and crashed into the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. He tells the class the monument was built for the pilot, named Emilio Carranza, with funds collected by the children of Mexico, and that they would be taking a field trip there.

Time has passed and we see the class walking deep into the pines with their PROFESSOR after having visited the Memorial. The sun is beginning to set and the moon is becoming more visible. The trees begin to cast shadows all around them. The group sets up their camp in a clearing, has a meal and then accompanies their Professor to a nearby historical site. As the moon rises higher the students are walking through an old cemetery adjacent to an old church with the Professor. We can hear the trees bustling with the creepy sounds of owls and other strange noises. As they continue their walk through the cemetery suddenly, they stop in front of a tombstone with the name Rachel Spencer inscribed on it. Born 1885 Died 1915. The Professor warns the group not to touch the tombstone lest they become victims of the purported Pine Creature of local legend, said to protect its Mothers grave. One of the students scoffs at the idea and swipes at the stone, sadly he wont have the chance to regret his indiscretion later. Another of the students, named Rachel, continues to stare at the old tombstone as the class begins to move on. She is fixated on the name Rachel Spencer.

The group has returned to their campsite and are enjoying time around the campfire when one couple, John and Kelly, decides to take a stroll in the moonlight. Coming upon a serene little lake in the forest with a small sandy beach area they spread a blanket on the ground and lie down together. Shortly they decide to take a swim but before being very long in the water the commencement of eerie sounds from the nearby forest spooks the girl and she decides its time to leave. As she heads to shore and begins dressing her frustrated boyfriend takes one last dive underwater. When he re-surfaces a moment later shes gone! Hurrying to shore he finds no trace of her but one lonely sneaker lying in the sand. As he dresses hes attacked by something horrible and is seen alive no more.

Back at the campsite the remaining campers are beginning to get concerned. Their friends have been gone too long, the Professor has gone missing without a word to anyone, and someone or some thing has ripped holes in a couple of the tents while everyone slept. In the process it left bloody streaks on Rachels face before having its claw/hand sliced by the knife of another in the group when it tore through their tent, waking the young man in the process.

After the commotion of the intrusion has subsided the group decides they should search for their missing friends. Shortly after beginning their search they decide to split up to cover more territory. The group with Steve and Rachel eventually find the secluded lake and Kellys lone sneaker in the sand. Becoming increasingly frightened they continue their search and very soon find the bloody body of John hung in a tree not far from the lake. However theres no sign of Johns girlfriend Kelly. Rick helps Steve retrieve Johns body from the tree while Rachel and Karen console one another. After recovering Johns corpse they head back to camp.

Meanwhile the other pair of young men, Ron and the class nerd Stuart (nicknamed Stank by his classmates) have been searching the pines looking for their friends. In the process Ron has inadvertently stepped on a large rusty iron trap which clamped on his foot breaking his ankle. In agony Ron is screaming at Stank to help him. Stank heads off into the woods looking for something to pry open the traps jaws with but while hes gone poor Ron has a close encounter with the same being that brought about Johns demise earlier. Upon returning to Rons aid Stank finds his classmate lying in a pool of blood with two holes in his chest. This sends the young man screaming through the nighttime forest back towards the campsite.

As the first group arrives back at the campsite carrying Johns body they find Stank lying scared and exhausted on the ground. Barely looking at his returning friends he notices Johns corpse. After asking about how they found him he tells them about Ron. Upon hearing of her boyfriends demise Karen goes into hysterics.

At some point during this scene the Professor returns from who knows where. He asks if alls well before finding out that two of his students are dead, and one is missing, not to mention the earlier attack on the tents. Upon mention of that one of the students notices the Professors hand is bandaged and suspiciously questions him about it. The Professor quickly explains that he caught it in some thorns while returning to the campsite in the dark, a reply that Steve doesnt quite believe but keeps his thoughts to himself for the present.

Shortly the group decides they really need to find their remaining missing friend Kelly so off they go again into the moonlit forest. Again the Professor parts company from his class under the pretext of doing some searching on his own since he knows a bit about these woods as he says. Again hes viewed very suspiciously by Steve as he departs.

The whole time these events have been taking place there have been a pair of Piney woodsmen, two brothers named Slim and Floyd, keeping tabs on the presence of these intruders in their woods. Coincidentally these are the same two men who found the distraught young Rachel 10 years earlier when her parents were murdered while on a picnic.

After some time spent in another fruitless search the group returns to the campsite, but upon returning they find that Karen is now missing from their company! No one saw her drop back and now shes running aimlessly through the forbidding pine forest, alone. Exhausted, Karen slows as she notices an old cabin in the pines with a dim light showing through the window. Approaching cautiously she peers in a window and sees Kelly bound and gagged on the cabin floor. Quietly entering the cabin she begins removing Kellys restraints. Just as she finishes a shadow appears in the doorway! Its the two Piney brothers, whove decided it was time to find out just what these people were doing in this forest. They console the girls, then Slim takes them back to his cabin while Floyd sets out to locate their classmates.

Back at the Pineys cabin things are going well until suddenly a misshapen clawed arm smashes through a window, grabbing one of the girls by the throat. Slim aims his shotgun but Karen is in the line of fire so he runs out the cabin door, but as he rounds the corner of the cabin the creature has vanished. Slim decides its time to find his brother and the other youngsters.

While all this has been occurring the Professor has been wandering about the forest alone. He happens upon the Creatures cabin some time after the girls and Pineys have departed. Unfortunately for the Professor the creature has returned in the interim and attacks the Professor when he enters the cabin, knocking him unconscious. The creature tosses the Professors limp body over his shoulder and exits the cabin.

Meanwhile the rest of the group has set out once again to try to locate their friends, and possibly set a trap for whatever it is thats been pursuing and killing them. As they near the old cemetery they hear the sounds of something moving through the forest nearby. Slim, accompanied by his wife Jenny and the two girls are in the same area and likewise hear movement nearby. Slim circles around the area where the sounds came from and settles in behind a tree to wait. At the same time Steve has told his group to wait while he goes to check out the noises theyd heard. As Steve approaches the spot where Slim is standing, Slim steps out from hiding and confronts him. They each soon determine who the other is, and upon hearing Steves voice both Kelly and Karen run up to them.

Steve, Slim, Jenny and the two girls re-join the rest of Steves group, but as they are talking they hear more noises from near the edge of the cemetery. Steve and Slim creep closer to investigate leaving the rest standing quietly in the forest. They find the Professor, still groggy, standing near the grave of Rachel Spencer, which is where hed just awoken. He tells them of his encounter with the creature.

Back where the rest of the group are waiting, Rachel has been standing to the side leaning against a tree. No one notices as a clawed hand creeps from behind the tree grabbing her by the throat and quickly pulling her away into the dark forest. By chance one of the girls turns and sees her gone. She raises the alarm and runs to Steve shouting that Rachels missing!

We now see Rachel inside the old cabin and chained to a post. Suddenly the cabin door flies open and she sees an unrecognizable figure standing in the doorway. As the thing begins moving toward her, she looks around and her eyes fix on an oil lamp sitting on a table near her. As the figure nears her she kicks out at the table. Suddenly there is an explosive flash fire. The creature is engulfed in flames and flails frantically as it makes its way out the door. Rachel begins to succumb to the smoke and sags to the floor against her bindings.

Having regained their composure somewhat Steve, Slim and the Professor decide to set out to try to locate Rachel while Rick leads the rest back to their campsite. As Slim and Steve head out the Professor informs them he has an idea hes going to check out, hell catch up with them later. Walking along Slim and Steve become aware of the odor of smoke in the air. They begin running toward the scent eventually coming upon the cabin in flames, and Professor Daniels staggering away from the cabin with Rachel in his arms. They are also surprised by an unknown figure, engulfed in flames, running into a pond near the cabin.

Its the following morning and we see police and ambulance personnel attending to the remaining group. As we move through the forest to the burnt cabin, we catch a glimpse of the adjacent pond. A haze of smoke still lingers above the water, and as we watch we see ripples emanating across its surface from a point just out of sight along the shoreline.

Is it Dead or Alive?