It is loosely based on the true story of a hungry man-eating black bear that attacked Mark Jordan and Jacqueline Perry, in the back country of Missinaibi Lake Provincial Park, North of Chapleau, Ontario in 2005, events for which Mark later received the Star of Courage award from Governor General Michaëlle Jean.

[6][7] Alex and his girlfriend Jenn arrive at a provincial park to go camping for the weekend in hopes of exploring a trail he loved when he was younger.

On the first night after they set up camp, they encounter an Irish tour guide named Brad who Jenn invites to have dinner with them.

Panicked, Jenn looks for her cell phone to call for help but Alex reveals he removed it from her backpack and left it in the car, worried that she would be distracted by it all weekend.

She briefly wards it off with bear spray but it returns, and Jenn watches in horror as Alex is dragged from the tent and brutally mauled to death.

Its consensus reads, "Tense, well-acted, and at once atmospheric as well as brutally impactful, Backcountry marks a memorably assured debut from writer-director Adam MacDonald.