The Emissary

The Emissary is a slow burn, 1991 period folk horror featuring international teens from the Romanian diaspora sent backpacking into the Carpathians. The sardonic Daria, looking to escape a dysfunctional family soon meets up with Mikayla, who pierces Daria's cynicism and the two form a close bond. Led by Chad, the teens learn to survive in the wilderness with few resources. Camping among wolves, a series of cryptic disappearances culminates in the revelation that this camp is part of an ancient Thracian wolf cult.

Their final trial is a Pentathlon which has the surviving campers competing in a series of bloody Olympic games until the winner is chosen to be sacrificed to an ancient god. The Emissary – in order to carry the cult’s message to Zalmoxis – is thrown off a cliff onto a field of pikes. In the aftermath, those that survive must face the reality of what has been done to them and reenter society, forever changed.