Dogwood Forest: When fantasy and reality collide nothing is as it seems

Dogwood Forest

A psychological horror film by Helen Wheels

The line between reality and fantasy is blurred when young Sadie’s dog Brutus transforms into a knight in shining armor who hatches a murderous plot to rid the Kingdom of the Dark Emperor’s rule.

At its core, Dogwood Forest is a story of survival. It explores the challenge to maintain one's personal identity when trapped in an abusive household and brings to light the life-long imprint that the experience burnishes on a human mind.

Smoky gray filtered light streams through a dirty window landing heavily on a woman’s mouth.  She rocks slowly and drags deeply on a cigarette, seemingly unaffected by the sounds of her daughter being beaten in another room. 

The swak, swak, swak of a leather belt and the pleading cries do nothing to move her from her position, as she remains fixed watching a sitcom. This is MOTHER.

SADIE begs for the beating to stop. When FATHER finally leaves the room, she hunkers down on a mattress that lies on a dirty wooden floor and finds comfort in her trusty canine companion, BRUTUS. The reprieve doesn’t last long as father forces Brutus outside for the night.

In the early morning, before her parents wake up, Sadie finds her animal friends and heads to her secret place. Though it is only a small grove of trees, Sadie’s imagination turns it into a magical kingdom filled with flowering Dogwood trees. Brutus becomes a knight in shining armor and her piglet friend GEORGE is a young prince.

These are only moments that ease her pain and she knows that she will eventually have to go home.

Father’s abuse escalates and no one is safe, including the animals, as he finds new ways to torture Sadie and Mother. All the while, mother remains an observer. The continuous debasement finally pushes Sadie over the edge, leaving her and Brutus no choice but to plot to kill her father.

Although, when fantasy and reality collide, nothing is as it seems.

Rachelle Henry as Sadie/ Photo Credit: Douglas Herring

See Rachelle Henry on IMDB

We follow Sadie through a world of loneliness and see her resilience alive in her imagination. Ultimately, we come to understand that we are witnessing a combination of memory and imagination; the psyche of a hurt little girl that is searching for answers.