The movie's opening scene showcases the bustling cityscape of New York, with a particular focus
on a single apartment building.
A school teacher, Ms. Daigle, has just returned to her apartment, but something feels off
because she can't shake the feeling that she's being watched.
When she tries to unlock her apartment door, she is greeted by the building head, Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson notifies her of a missing master key of the apartment, and tells her that someone
will come by tomorrow to change the locks on the whole floor.
Before leaving, he also mentions a proposal to switch her apartment to a more affordable
one, but she politely declines.
Once inside, we learn that she lives with her brother named Brad, who appears to be
severely paralyzed.
She tells him that she has to go grade her students' papers in the other room,
and before leaving, Ms. Daigle puts on some music for him.
But just as she is about to begin working on the papers, something terrifying happens
in her brother's room,
Ms. Daigle hears Brad squirming and grunting, and when she returns to his room, she finds
the music has been turned off, and that he is in an agitated state.
She then puts the music back on, and reassures her brother that everything is fine.
Later, she engages in grading papers, but then, a sense of unease washes over her when
she spots something inside Brad's room through the monitor.
Seeing Brad's room door open, she cautiously steps towards the room.
Here Ms. Daigle again finds his brother in a deeply disturbed state, and what's strange
is that she sees the missing apartment’s master key clutched tightly in Brad's hands.
The brother suddenly becomes aggressive and repeatedly yells at her to get out.
But after Ms. Daigle makes her way out of the room, the apartment is plunged into pitch-black
darkness, so she threatens to call the police.
And then this happens…
An unseen entity launches an attack on her, and she is stabbed in the leg with a red pencil.
After narrowly escaping with her life, she locks herself in Brad's room for safety.
And when she turns to her brother, she witnesses the horrifying sight of Brad with a slashed throat.
With relentless pounding on the door, she futilely calls for help, unheard by anyone.
The assailant finally makes his way inside, but finds the room empty.
It appears that the teacher is now out of options, and hiding under the bed seems to
be a better choice.
However, not long after that, she sees him leave and close the door.
With the coast clear, Ms. Daigle reaches out to pick up the key when she suddenly realizes
that the attacker is still in the room.
The assailant ruthlessly ends her life with a sharp pencil to her eyes and hand, a brutal
and gruesome demise.
The movie then switches to Phil Lodge, a widower and former NYPD officer, who has applied for
a superintendent position in the same apartment building as Ms Daigle.
Following his wife's passing, Phil left his job as a police officer only to take care
of his fourteen-year-old daughter, Violet, and his seven-year-old, Rose.
He initially visited the building to explore a suggested apartment by Violet's favorite
teacher, Ms Daigle, but after learning about a vacant seat for a super from one of the
employees, he became intrigued by the job opportunity that would allow him to work close
to his daughters.
During Phil's meeting with Mr Johnson, Rose is drawn to a mysterious chant echoing from
downstairs, compelling her to explore the voice's origin.
Despite Phil's explicit instructions for Violet to keep a watchful eye on Rose, Violet, being
a stubborn and rebellious teenager, remains engrossed in her novel.
The sounds of voices lead Rose to the basement, where she overhears a man reciting an old mantra.
She then comes face-to-face with a creepy man named Walter, who asks for her name.
Unaware of her sister's location, Violet encounters a boy named Vondell, who is playing with a ball.
As she spends time with him smoking a cigarette, Phil receives instructions from Mr. Johnson.
On their way downstairs, Mr. Johnson suspiciously locks the door to the mechanical room instead
of inviting Phil for a visit.
While exploring the basement and furnace, Mr. Johnson tells him to pay no mind to the
photographs, since they belong to senior superintendent, Walter.
Phil is instructed to keep an eye on Walter, as he is into some Ukrainian psycho voodoo shit.
Since the usual staff quarters are occupied, Phil temporarily takes up residence in a rundown
basement apartment.
Once the tour ends, he returns to the lobby only to discover that Violet and Rose are missing.
Phil learns from a resident named Beverly that she saw a fourteen-year-old girl near
the basement entrance.
The father eventually finds Violet smoking with Vondell, and after Vondell departs, he
confronts her about Rose's whereabouts.
Rose calls out for Phil from downstairs, and she tells him that she wants a ball like Vondell’s,
while Beverly approaches them to ensure everything is okay, introducing herself to Phil in an
upbeat manner.
After Beverly departs, Rose expresses her dislike for the place, but Phil assures little
Rose that she will grow to like their new surroundings.
Meanwhile, Walter continues to recite spells in his basement, after which Mrs. Grey
perceives an unfamiliar presence in her living room.
When she puts her large knife on the table, the TV suddenly turns on by itself, so the
old lady shuts it off, only to find that her knife is gone.
The strangeness is followed by the eerie sound of her front door's lock being manipulated.
Unexpectedly, she hears a loud noise in the kitchen, and sees that her dog has dropped
the dinner plate.
And then all of a sudden,
Later on, things for Phil's family begin to get scary when Rose notices a movement in
their door knob.
Phil cautiously peers through the peephole, and catches sight of Walter attempting to
unlock the door, who apologizes for the disturbance, claiming he believed the room was unoccupied.
After a brief introduction, Walter casts a disquieting glance at Rose and departs without uttering a word,
leaving her shaken due to his unsettling gaze.
The next day, while emptying Ms Daigle's apartment, Phil encounters another super, Julio.
To his surprise, Julio reveals that Ms Daigle has supposedly moved out, leaving all her
belongings behind.
The furniture, now deemed useless, becomes fair game for them to take.
As Phil needs some stuff for his new residence, he takes away the furniture with the help
of Julio.
Julio encounters Violet, who is still immersed in her self-absorbed indifference towards everyone.
When night falls, Phil wakes up from his sleep to find the door to his quarter wide open.
Panicked, he immediately checks on both of her daughters and finds that Rose is gone.
The father then runs out of his home, and then heads for the basement, where he catches a
dark silhouette of a man at the opposite end of the hallway.
As the figure disappears, Phil presses on with his search for Rose, and ultimately discovers
her standing before the furnace, gazing at the flames.
On the next day, Walter approaches Phil and expresses his concern about Rose, mentioning
that she appeared lost.
Phil is taken aback by this as he had never mentioned Rose's name to Walter before.
This causes Phil to worry about the safety of his daughter in the presence of the strange Walter.
Phil also overhears Mr Johnson instructing a staff member to visit Mrs Grey's apartment,
because her neighbours are complaining about her dog's constant barking.
Inside Mrs. Grey's apartment, they discover the dog sitting alone on the sofa, with no
sign of the old woman.
Assuming that Mrs Grey may have gone out somewhere, Phil decides to take care of the dog temporarily.
Before leaving, he also takes her bed, which he then sets up for Rose.
This triggers Violet's anger, as she feels that her father prioritizes Rose over her
all the time.
Frustrated, she heads upstairs in the elevator, while we see Walter gazing at her and Vondell
through the CCTV cameras.
Beverly catches Violet smoking outside the laundry room, and invites her inside, striking
up a conversation to console her.
Meanwhile, Vondell hears a knock on his apartment door, and upon checking, he hears music playing.
The same sound reaches Beverly and Violet, but when they investigate, they find no one.
As Beverly turns around, Violet mysteriously disappears.
Simultaneously, Vondell spots a screwdriver on the floor, but when he bends to get the screwdriver,
The next day, Phil requests a flathead screwdriver from Julio, but Julio responds that he might
have left it inside.
They are interrupted when the police arrive, reporting the disappearance of Vondell.
Phil then questions Julio about Walter, prompting Julio to reveal his unease regarding Walter's
collection of pictures.
Worried about his daughters, Phil heads downstairs and finds them safe and sound.
Upon learning about Vondell's disappearance, Violet storms into the bathroom, and deletes
his photograph from her phone with a heavy heart.
Later that same day, while Phil is occupied in the basement, Rose ventures into the area,
unknowingly encountering Walter once again.
In an unsettling manner, Walter shares a chilling tale about a hermit, and then accuses Rose
of being aware of what happened to Vondell.
His behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre as he pursues Rose, demanding that she show
him where Vondell is.
Phil then intervenes, and he warns Walter to stay away from his children forever.
The following day, Phil, driven by curiosity, decides to enter the mechanical room, but
Mr Johnson exits the place, instructing Phil to carry out his work in the hallway instead.
He and his daughters later attend Julio's 50th birthday party on the rooftop.
Meanwhile, Walter recites spells and prepares a mixture of dirt and leaves, and with Phil
and his family gone, he creeps inside their home.
He sprinkles mysterious contents on Rose's bed, and lurks around the house for a bit,
until he hears Phil's voice echo in the hallway.
As the family unexpectedly returns from the party, Walter quickly takes cover in a closet.
When Rose goes near her bed, she realizes that something is off, and all of a sudden,
she loses her balance and falls.
Rose tells Phil that something smells bad, and Phil finds the mattress covered in wet
soil and leaves.
Phil then cleans the mattress outside, only to witness Walter leaving the basement.
Aware that Walter has intruded into his room, Phil confronts him and issues a chilling warning,
threatening him that if Walter ever dares to approach his family again, he will go as
far as to kill him.
Beverly breaks the fight between them, and kindly invites him for a cup of coffee to
provide some comfort.
But their conversation is abruptly interrupted when Beverly finds her flower pot mysteriously broken.
Claiming he has urgent matters to attend to, Phil departs from the apartment.
Shortly after, Beverly hears the same haunting music accompanied by a knock at the door,
followed by the sudden appearance of figure lurking outside her peephole.
Afterwards, Mr. Johnson brings the new tenants to tour around Mrs. Daigle’s apartment.
While preparing it for the new tenants, their attention move towards a blood stained footprint
imprinted on the wooden floor.
Julio calls Mr. Johnson to show him the footprint, however, instead of being concerned, Mr. Johnson
simply wipes away the print from the floor, while the new tenants inform Mr. Johnson that
they will take the place.
Suspecting that Mr. Johnson is up to no good, Phil decides to investigate further with Julio,
taking him to the mechanical room in search of evidence against Mr. Johnson.
Here they discover a hole connecting directly to the female restroom, exposing Mr. Johnson's
true nature as a pervert.
Meanwhile, Violet finds herself trapped in the elevator, desperately trying to alert
the authorities about her predicament.
Walter, who happens to have access to the cameras around the building, manipulates the
elevator, directing it towards the basement with the intention of confronting Violet.
The elevator comes to a halt, and Violet steps out in the desolate basement.
As Violet searches for an escape route within the confined space, Walter mysteriously emerges,
reciting ancient spells in an unknown language, sending Violet into a state of terror.
She flees for her life, and manages to break free from the basement when she encounters
Phil halfway.
But instead of relief, she unleashes her anger upon him and blames him for not taking better
care of her.
Consumed by anger, Phil decides to plant evidence against Walter, as he is convinced that Walter
is responsible for Mrs. Grey and Vondell's disappearance, and that his daughters may
be his next targets.
After breaking into Mrs. Grey’s apartment and collects a fragment from her cane as evidence,
Phil goes inside Walter's apartment.
To his astonishment, the room is filled with an unsettling collection of children's shoes
and women's purses, including Rose's hairbrush.
Convinced of Walter's hand in the ongoing incidents, Phil strategically places the piece
of the cane in one of Walter's drawers and then makes an anonymous call to the police.
As a result, Walter is arrested, while Mr Johnson is questioned about Mrs Grey's whereabouts,
but he denies any knowledge of her disappearance.
With Walter out of the way, Phil finds solace in Beverly's company, opening up to her about
the heartbreaking story of his wife's death.
He recounts the tragic incident where a fire engulfed their house, trapping his wife upstairs.
He could only manage to save Rose and himself, leaving his wife to perish in the flames,
while Violet, playing in the yard at the time, held Phil responsible for her mother's death,
leading to her lingering anger towards him.
The next day, Phil gets the unfortunate news of Walter's release due to the lack of evidence.
Julio informs him that the police also didn't find anything else other than the cane handle
at Walter's place.
With Walter out, Phil becomes more on edge than he ever was.
As time passes, Walter returns to work, taking Rose's hair and tying it to a nail as if he
is preparing for some kind of attack.
The next day presents another challenge for Phil, when he is assigned to assist new tenants
with their locks, leaving her two daughters alone.
Julio, tasked with keeping an eye on Violet and Rose, becomes distracted by a female employee
who takes him away from the hallway into another room.
After catering to the task, Phil discovers the same leaf he found on Rose's bed, realizing
something sinister is about to occur.
He rushes back home and asks Violet about Rose, and Violet cryptically tells Phil that
he knows exactly where Rose is.
Determined to locate her, Phil heads towards Walter's lair, but the creepy man is not there.
After instructing Violet to return to their apartment and lock the door, Phil joins Walter
near the furnace, where he is heating a chain.
When Walter doesn't tell Phil about Rose and just babbles on and on, a fight ensues between
the two men.
Phil attacks him and delivers a beating, with Violet witnessing the entire scene in fear.
Overwhelmed, she heads to Beverly's apartment, seeking solace and safety.
In the midst of the chaos, Phil finally finds relief as he locates Rose, who tells her father
that she was hiding from a bad man.
Meanwhile, Julio returns to the hallway and discovers a shocking sight inside the room;
Vondell's ball and a dollhouse containing four dolls, two of which are burnt.
On the other side, Mr Johnson discovers that Phil fabricated his experience as a cop in
his resume, as the Newburgh police have no record of him.
Julio then receives a phone call from Phil, only to hear his anxious tone, confessing
that he has ruined everything.
To be there for his friend, Julio joins Phil in the basement, where he learns about Walter's
actions.
But his body mysteriously disappears.
Suspecting something amiss with Phil, Julio questions him about the ball that belongs
to Vondell, but then Rose shows up and claims it as her own.
Here the movie takes a sinister turn as Julio expresses confusion, mentioning that he has
never met Rose before.
Rose responds that most people do not see her until it is their time.
She then starts a game, and once it is completed, eerie music begins to play.
And then this happens…
Phil violently kills Julio by slashing his throat.
With tears streaming down his face, he says that Julio was his friend, only for Rose to
respond that he had discovered their truth.
The true revelation emerges when Violet confides in Beverly about Rose, and how her house burned
down 7 years ago.
It turns out that Rose was Violet's twin sister, who passed away 7 years ago at the age of seven.
In complete disbelief, Beverly says that she must be lying as Phil talks about Rose all
the time, and so violet insists that only her father and Walter are able to see Rose.
Back to Johnson, just as he is about to confront Phil, he stumbles upon the shocking sight
of Phil cremating Julio's body.
Tragically, before Mr Johnson can escape,
Back to Beverly’s apartment, Violet claims that throughout her life, Rose always did
whatever she wanted, but no one ever did anything about it.
Even after her death, she continued to take away everyone Violet cared about, including
her favorite teacher, Ms Daigle, and the boy Vondell.
Violet suspects Rose may have killed Mrs Gray because she wanted her dog.
As the story progresses, Violet discloses that Rose intentionally set the house on fire
to kill their mother, who used to punish her for her mistakes.
Suddenly, Rose shows up, and reveals that when Violet told their father about her actions,
he snapped her neck and threw her out of a window.
Discovering Beverly's ability to see Rose, Violet realizes the urgency to escape before
Phil kills her too.
Beverly is unable to comprehend what's happening, until she witnesses Rose and Phil together
in the basement.
As Phil attempts to harm her, Violet intervenes, allowing Beverly to run away.
Amidst the chaos, Walter emerges out of nowhere, striking Phil's head and rendering him unconscious.
Using the same dirt mixture, he incapacitates Rose before confining her inside the heated
chain.
Here Violet finally sees her sister for the first time after her death.
Soon, Walter initiates a ritual, piercing nails into each of Rose's limbs, evoking intense
agony and screams.
Seeing the little girl getting tortured, Beverly tries to help, but Violet warns her against
interference, claiming that Walter's actions are necessary.
However, before the ritual reaches its conclusion, Beverly strikes Walter's head, enabling Phil
to save Rose.
Phil stabs Walter to death despite his claim that he only wanted to help.
As he prepares to harm Beverly as well, Rose intervenes, pleading with her father not to
hurt her because she wants a mother.
Ultimately, Phil guides his family out of the building, cautioning Beverly to comply
with Rose's directives if she wishes to survive.
He asks Rose if they are finished, but Rose sinisterly says that they are just getting started.