Scott Schirmer’s Plank Face (2016) operates at the intersection of backwoods horror, trauma narrative, and psychological body horror. Unlike traditional “hillbilly horror” that positions civilized protagonists against rural savagery, Plank Face subverts the genre by centering on the dissolution of the self. This paper argues that the film uses sensory deprivation, forced acclimation, and grotesque intimacy to explore how extreme trauma can rewire human identity, ultimately suggesting that “monstrosity” is a socially constructed label rather than an innate condition.
Traditional backwoods horror (e.g., The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , Deliverance ) positions the urban protagonist as a victim of atavistic evil. Plank Face disrupts this: Nathan is not a heroic survivor but a passive vessel. The family—led by matriarch Big Mother (Betty Jeune)—does not simply torture him; they integrate him through ritualized abuse, sex, and labor. By the film’s climax, Nathan willingly adopts the family’s feral code, even killing an outsider. This narrative arc suggests that identity is not fixed but a survival mechanism: Nathan’s “self” dissolves because it offers no utility in his new environment.
Released following Schirmer’s cult hit Found (2012), Plank Face follows a man named Nathan (Nathan Barrett) who, after being kidnapped by a feral family living in the woods, undergoes a brutal psychological transformation. The film eschews jump scares for sustained dread, employing long takes and naturalistic gore. This paper will analyze three core elements: (1) the inversion of the “civilized vs. wild” binary, (2) the function of abjection as a bonding mechanism, and (3) the film’s critique of normative masculinity.
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The title refers to a makeshift torture device: a wooden plank with holes for eyes, used to immobilize Nathan’s head. Beyond its literal function, the “plank face” symbolizes the performative mask of civility. Early in the film, Nathan’s face is expressive, readable. As the family strips his language and autonomy, his face becomes plank-like—blank, accepting, inhuman. By the end, when he finally smiles, it is a predatory grin. The film thus posits that trauma does not simply damage the self but can reshape it into something unrecognizable.
The Abject and the Animalistic: Deconstructing Identity and Trauma in Scott Schirmer’s “Plank Face”
Unlike many horror films where female bodies are the primary site of violation, Plank Face centers male victimization. Nathan is repeatedly sexually assaulted by the family’s women and men, challenging the notion that male horror must be physical (torture) rather than intimate (rape). However, the film avoids a simplistic “men can be victims too” reading by showing Nathan’s eventual internalization of his abusers’ logic. This raises uncomfortable questions about complicity: When does survival become conversion? When does a victim become a monster?
Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection—the horror of bodily waste, fluids, and the collapse of subject/object boundaries—pervades Plank Face . The family forces Nathan to eat vermin, drink from communal troughs, and engage in incestuous acts. Crucially, these acts are not portrayed as purely sadistic; they are presented as “gifts” of inclusion. The film’s most unsettling scenes involve tender moments—a calloused hand stroking Nathan’s hair, a shared laugh over a mutilated corpse. This merging of care and cruelty erodes the viewer’s ability to categorize the family as pure evil, instead inviting a deeply uncomfortable empathy.