Twin brothers Elias and Lukas used to live happily with their parents as a strong, united
family until divorce happened.
Their father won custody of them and for a long time neither brother heard from their
mother, who used to be an actress.
But now, Mother has called and told them she's finally ready to receive them, so Father drops
the twins at their old house in the countryside.
Unfortunately he refuses to visit them, because he knows Mother doesn't want to see him right
now.
When the boys first enter the house, they can't find Mother anywhere, but looking around
already shows them some curiosities they hadn't been ready for: the barn has been locked up,
and Mother's room has all the windows covered with curtains, leaving it in complete darkness;
for some reason there's a dish with old chicken bones in the room as well.
Their little search is interrupted when Mother finally comes out of the bathroom, but she
doesn't look as usual either: her whole face is wrapped in a white bandage, resembling
a white balaclava.
She apologies for presenting herself like this, but she had a little procedure recently
since she needed a change to have a fresh start.
The kids are clearly disturbed by her looks, especially since Father hadn't told them about
this, but Mother explains that she wants it to be their little secret and promises she's
still the same mom they've always loved.
Afterward, the boys settle down in their old room while discussing what their mom may look
like under the bandage; Lukas' theories are quite disturbing and Elias doesn't appreciate
them.
Suddenly they're interrupted by Mother again, who keeps talking to Elias without paying
too much attention to Lukas; she's brought them a toy as a gift to rebuild their relationship
from a happy base.
However Mother also has a few house rules that she'll need the twins to follow while
she's recovering: no running or shouting in the house because she needs peace and quiet,
no visitors or playdates, and blinds must stay closed because she can't expose her skin
to the sun right now.
Her office and bedroom are off-limits, and so is the barn.
Then, Elias gifts her a drawing he made of her with the twins, and while Mother shows
gratitude towards him, she's clearly upset by it.
The day passes as normal with the kids playing together while Mother does her own thing.
In the evening, she discovers the twins have a phone now and wishes they didn't spend so
much time with it.
Elias points out she could solve that by spending time with them, and at first, Mother explains
she's too tired, but she gives in when the kids beg.
The family watches a movie together, and before bed, Mother reads a story to her kids.
After tucking them in, Elias realizes she hasn't sung the lullaby she always sang for
them before they fell asleep and asks for it, but Mother isn't in the mood, telling
him he's too old for songs.
Once she's gone, Elias asks Lukas if he also feels like something has changed with their
mom and wonders if she doesn't like them anymore.
To comfort his brother, Lukas begins singing the lullaby and Elias soon joins in; their
singing can be heard by Mother outside the door and it puts her on the edge.
The next day, the boys are playing outside when Elias sees the barn and curiosity gets
the better of him, so he decides to sneak inside through the window, ignoring Lukas'
reminder that they aren't supposed to do that.
Everything looks exactly as he remembers it, including the fact that their old toys are
on the loft floor where the twins used to play.
There's a little surprise though: a hole on the wall covered in red.
For some reason, this hole makes Elias nervous, and he decides to leave the barn in the same
way he came.
As soon as he steps outside, Mother finds him and forcefully grabs him as she scolds
him irately, even going as far as shaking her own son.
This causes Elias to fall to the ground and scratch his elbow, but instead of looking
at the wound, Mother reminds him to stay far from the barn before going back inside.
The boys return to the house too in order for Lukas to help Elias take care of his scratch,
but all Elias can think of is the hole on the barn wall because he's sure it was covered
in blood.
Lukas dismisses his worries, saying it probably was just paint.
That night, Elias can't stop dreaming about the barn, only to wake up when he hears a
gunshot.
It seems this whole barn issue is truly messing with his emotions, because he then discovers
he's wet the bed.
As he leaves the room to find fresh sheets, he overhears Mother talking on the phone while
drinking, making Elias realize she has a glass of wine in hand most of the time.
Mother is telling someone about Elias sticking to Lukas' side and his little stunt in the
barn, thinking something it's wrong; she also says she doesn't know for how long she can
keep on pretending and that she needs him gone.
Hurt by these words, Elias rushes back to his room, and the noise he makes gets Mother's
attention, causing her to come to check on him.
Thankfully, pretending to be asleep works and Elias only gets tucked in before Mother
leaves.
The next morning, Elias tells Lukas everything he's heard, and Lukas finds it very interesting
that Mother doesn't like them spending so much time together.
Suddenly, they hear Mother's phone ring, but she rushes to her bedroom to take the call
so the kids can't listen to her conversation.
Trying to spy on her through the door doesn't work since nothing can be heard from outside,
thus the twins prepare a walkie-talkie that they take to Mother's bedroom later while
she's distracted by the tv.
They should just drop the walkie-talkie and leave, but once again, curiosity gets the
better of Elias and he starts looking around, noticing even more peculiar things in the
room.
Mother's medicine warns about side effects on the label, there are also pictures missing
on the wall; in fact Elias finds them upside down on the dresser, as if Mother couldn't
stand looking at them.
Speaking of Mother, she chooses the moment to come back to the bedroom, so the boys separate
to find places to hide.
Elias ends up in the bathroom, where he can still spy on Mother and watch her as she puts
on some music to weirdly dance in front of the mirror while contemplating her body.
She's also smoking, which she never did before because she hated cigarettes.
This is too much for a boy to handle and Elias steps back, accidentally bumping against the
trash can and finding a heartbreaking surprise: Mother threw his drawing away.
Suddenly, the music comes to a stop when Mother remembers she has to change her bandage and
comes to the bathroom to do so, prompting Elias to hide under the sink.
Unfortunately, this angle doesn't allow him to take a peek, and Mother looks at her face
in the mirror without Elias getting to see the results of that mysterious procedure.
On her way out, Mother finds the drawing on the floor and decides to tear it into pieces
before throwing it into the trash again.
Afterward, the twins take the pieces of the drawing to their bedroom while wondering why
their mom has changed so much.
After putting together all the details they've been noticing the past few days, Lukas comes
to a creepy conclusion: this woman isn't their mom, it's another person pretending under
the mask.
It makes sense, but Elias refuses to believe it until Lukas brings some proof: they take
a picture of Mother while she's reading, then compare it to one of her headshots and discover
her eye color doesn't match.
Fear begins taking over them and the twins try to call Father, but he isn't answering
his phone.
At that moment, Mother comes to check on them, only to discover the kids locked the door.
She doesn't like it, but she tries to stay calm as she explains she knows things between
them haven't been so good, but she'd like to start over.
There are chicken nuggets waiting in the kitchen as a peace offering, but Lukas doesn't want
to go and Elias follows his lead.
Later in the evening, Elias is trying to sleep while watching an old video of his mom singing
to them in bed when suddenly, Mother forces the door open and begins looking through the
boys' things.
She's incredibly furious because she's found out the twins tried to call their Father and
she doesn't want to deal with her ex right now.
As she keeps insulting and yelling at them, Mother struggles against Elias until she manages
to take his phone, which she then takes to the kitchen in order to destroy it in the
garbage disposal.
Scared of this woman they can't recognize, the twins go back to their bedroom, putting
a dresser against the door to try to lock it again and taking turns to keep watch while
the other sleeps.
In the middle of the night, Elias notices there are no noises coming from the walkie-talkie
and decides to check on his mom, finding her asleep in the tub.
Gathering as much courage as he can, Elias comes closer and tries to remove her mask,
but Mother wakes up and grabs him by the arm, shaking him as she wonders what he's doing
there.
A terrified Elias runs back to his room to reunite with his twin after pushing back the
dresser against the door, but this isn't enough to stop Mother, who uses a crowbar to force
the door open.
Furious, she begins ranting about Elias' lack of respect towards his own mother, who just
has been trying her best, and when Elias replies that she isn't their mom, it earns him a slap
on the face, hurting his lip.
Now it's Elias' turn to be furious, accusing the woman to be an impostor and demanding
to know where his real mom is, pushing Mother into a breakdown.
While leaving Lukas behind in the room, Mother takes Elias to the bathroom, where she begins
showering him with cold water to get him to admit she's his real mom.
The trick works and Elias says the words, but he doesn't actually mean them, he's just
trying to make it stop.
Moments later, Mother is in her bedroom taking care of her body when she finds a bit of skin
poking out of her toe.
As she begins pulling it, she reveals the black, monstrous body underneath the skin,
but before her face can be revealed as well, Elias wakes up from this nightmare.
It's thanks to Lukas, who is shaking his shoulder and insisting they need to leave the house.
There's a storm raging outside but the twins leave anyway, walking under the rain for a
while until they come across an abandoned house, where they decide to sneak in to spend
the night.
A few hours later, Elias has another nightmare, this time of the monstrous form of his mother
coming after him.
Thankfully, he's woken up by state troopers Sandy and Gary, who gladly hear the story
of how the woman pretending to be their mother has been treating them.
Promising to take them somewhere safe, the troopers put the kids in the car, only to
take them back to their mom's house, where they find her not wearing her mask anymore.
Her face looks fine, only a little bruised because of the cosmetic surgery she went through.
Gary is an old fan of Mother's movies and easily charmed by her, but Sandy wants to
talk about the disturbing stories Elias told her of.
Mother explains that Elias' wound on his lip comes from the time he fell while playing
and that she would never lay a hand on her son.
She also adds that Elias has been making up a lot of things and that the line between
reality and fantasy has been incredibly blurry lately.
This lie only makes Lukas more convinced that this isn't their mother, and Elias accepts
it when his brother points out she must've gotten surgery to modify her real face.
When the kids go to bed, Mother comes to check on them, and since she knows they're just
pretending to be sleep, she points out she isn't going anywhere and this hate will have
to become love sooner or later.
Her tough act falls apart when she returns to her own bedroom, where she cries her heart
out after finishing yet another glass of wine.
The next morning, Mother wakes up to find herself tied to the bed with duct tape.
The twins are there too, demanding to know where their real mom is and pointing out the
eye color difference between the woman in the bed and the picture of their mother to
prove their theory.
However Mother explains she wore contacts for her headshots, and that they can still
find them in her purse.
Elias doesn't believe her and prepares a bucket of water and ice while ignoring Lukas' pleas
to leave so they can make it to Father's house before dark.
Finding out where their real mom is more important to Elias, who then uses the freezing water
to torture the woman into talking.
Since Mother still claims to be the real deal, Elias changes tactics, bringing over the destroyed
drawing and pointing out an actual mom wouldn't treat her kids' gifts like this nor would
ignore them when they get hurt.
Guilt overwhelms Mother, who begins having another breakdown, and the sight of her tears
is enough to make Elias start doubting their theory again.
Getting desperate, Lukas reminds Elias that she's a very good actress that has been pretending
all this time, so crying like a martyr shouldn't be hard for her to pull off, he also thinks
Elias is letting this woman get between them.
However Elias wants better proof now and rushes downstairs to find the purse, but Lukas beats
him to it and informs him there are no contacts.
Elias finally accepts to leave with his brother and the kids pack their bags, but first, Elias
wants to check on the woman one last time.
Mother apologizes for how she's been acting, explaining she's been through a lot and she
hasn't been fair, but she also wants Elias to think for himself and stop listening to
Lukas.
Elias starts considering at least releasing one of her arms to help her with the pain
of the position, but he's interrupted by Lukas, who makes him gag her up instead to keep her
from lying.
Once again, the boys get ready to leave, but this time, they're interrupted by the state
troopers, who have come by to make sure they're alright.
Mother can hear them and begins shaking the bed until she manages to push the lamp onto
the floor, but the noise goes unnoticed and the cops leave after Elias swears everything
is fine.
Then, the boys take their bags and sit by the road while waiting for their Uber, but
Elias still has doubts and decides to return to the house alone, using a forgotten toothbrush
as an excuse.
While Lukas stays behind waiting for the car, Elias finds the woman's purse and checks it
himself this time, which ends up giving him a huge, shocking surprise: the contacts are
there, and his brother lied.
Speaking of Lukas, he appears behind Elias and begs him to trust him, but Elias is scared
of him now and rushes upstairs to reunite with his mother, locking the door behind him.
Furious, Lukas keeps hitting the door, trying to open it, but as soon as Elias frees Mother,
his twin disappears.
Mother and child reunite with a tight hug as Elias apologizes in tears, explaining Lukas
lied and convinced him to do all these crazy things, which means something must be wrong
with his twin.
After promising she isn't mad with him, Mother finally accepts it's time to tell Elias the
truth and takes him outside, curiously without encountering Lukas on the way.
The pair makes it to the barn, where Mother forces Elias to look at the hole on the wall
against his will as she reminds him what truly happened before his parents' divorce.
It turns out Elias had shot and killed Lukas by accident while playing with a gun he didn't
know was loaded, this means the Lukas he has been seeing all this time was a hallucination.
The death of her son sent Mother into a spiral of depression and grief, which caused the
divorce and custody going to Father until she could get better.
Breaking down in tears, Elias refuses to listen to his mom trying to convince him it was an
accident and that he shouldn't feel guilty; in fact it's so overwhelming that it triggers
the poor kid into pushing her away.
Mom falls off the loft floor and instantly dies, knocking down the lantern on her way
down.
Elias' breakdown gets worse when he notices he has killed another relative, but there's
no time to grieve: the lantern has started a fire and he needs to run out before the
building crumbles.
Miserable and panicking, Elias only makes it a few steps away from the barn before he
falls to his knees to throw up.
At that moment, Lukas and Mother appear next to him, assuring him he didn't do anything
wrong and comforting him with a hug.