DirkGently69 wrote:
The only movie I can think of like that is The Village, an M. Night Shyamalan movie, 2004.
Wikipedia wrote:
In 19th-century Pennsylvania, a small, remote village lives in fear of nameless humanoid-creatures that inhabit the surrounding woods. Staffed watchtowers and tall poles with oil lamps line the village perimeter for protection. Also, the color red is banned, as it attracts the creatures.
Following a young villager's death, Lucius Hunt requests, and is denied, the elders' permission to travel through the woods and retrieve medical supplies from "the towns" to avoid similar tragedies. Later, Lucius' widowed mother, Alice, questions his wanting to visit "the towns," which the elders describe as wicked.
The elders appear to have secrets, and each keeps a locked black box containing unknown items. It is learned that as long as villagers avoid the woods, the creatures stay away. Lucius secretly ventures into the woods, though he later tells the elders and claims it was safe. Soon after, skinned animal carcasses appear in the village. One night, the creatures enter the village, leaving red paint splashes on people's doors as a warning.
Elder Edward Walker's daughter, Kitty, fancies Lucius, but he loves Ivy, Kitty's blind younger sister. Kitty marries someone else, which allows Ivy and Lucius to become betrothed. Before they marry, Noah Percy, a young man with an apparent developmental disability, stabs Lucius out of jealousy. As the elders consider Noah's fate, he remains locked in a small building.
Edward defies the other elders by sending Ivy, accompanied by two young males, through the forest to retrieve medicine for Lucius, who clings to life. Before Ivy leaves, Edward tells her about his wealthy father's murder. He then admits the creatures are actually the elders disguised as the monsters to perpetuate the legend so they can scare and deter younger members from leaving. In the woods, the two boys become frightened and abandon Ivy. She continues on alone and is stalked by a creature, which she tricks into fatally falling into a deep hole as it attacks. The creature is Noah wearing a costume he found hidden under floorboards. Meanwhile, Edward and his wife, Tabitha, unlock their box, which contains photos of themselves and the other elders when they were much younger. The group is standing outside a modern-day counseling center, revealing that it is actually the early 21st century.
Ivy climbs over a high wall. On the other side, she encounters a Walker Wildlife Reserve park ranger, who is shocked that she came from the woods. Ivy gives him a list of medicines she must acquire. The ranger gathers the medication without telling his supervisor, nor does he mention Ivy.
It is learned that Edward Walker, a former history professor, founded the village over two decades earlier. He recruited people he met at a grief counseling clinic to isolate themselves from societal violence. Edward's family fortune funds the wildlife reserve, built the village inside it, and even paid the government to make it a no-fly zone.
Ivy returns to the village with the medication, never seeing the modern world. The elders' boxes are shown to contain mementos and other items from their earlier lives; their voices are heard recalling past traumas. The elders gather around Lucius's bed after learning that Ivy has returned and that a monster (Noah) was killed. Edward comforts Noah's grieving parents by saying that his death will enable them to continue the farce that creatures inhabit the woods.
This does not seem to entirely match the OP's description.
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