In the opening scene, we see a young boy named Justin Whitter saying goodbye to his school
friends, before embarking on a woodland path towards home.
Everything seems to be going smoothly, until he is suddenly thrown
back by a mysterious force.
The focus then shifts to a family, including Jackie, the mother, and her son, Connor.
Despite the mother's best efforts to make him breakfast, it is clear that their family’s relationship is in
trouble, as the son acts cold and resentful toward his mother.
Moments later, Greg, the father, who has been sleeping on the couch,
wakes up and goes to comfort his distraught son.
It turns out that Connor behaves in such a way for a reason; we discover that Jackie is
cheating on Greg, leaving him and their son Connor struggling to forgive her.
Jackie is trying to rebuild the shattered home, but little does she know there is trouble brewing
in her household beyond the conflict within the family.
In the morning, when Jackie is at work,
Greg loses his cool, and throws his phone through a window, breaking it. His attention then falls
upon Jackie's favorite mug, peculiarly placed on the roof.
Growing suspicious, he investigates and finds cigarettes hidden within the mug,
leading him to suspect Connor's involvement.
Back to the strange event that happened to Justin Whitter:
it resulted in the boy disappearing without a trace.
Here we learn that Greg is a detective
in the town, and he just found out that the authorities recovered Justin's bicycle.
Greg and Spitzky, the lead officers on the case, receive news of these findings,
which leads to a startling revelation when they also find a green pocket knife somewhere nearby.
It turns out that similar knives werepreviously discovered underground alongside the bodies of six deceased boys.
This points towards Cole Gordon, the convicted killer of those boys,
as a potential suspect in Justin's disappearance. But there's a twist—Spitzky had already
incarcerated Cole, leaving questions about who is truly responsible for the incident.
As time passes, an eerie atmosphere descends, heightening the tension in the house.
When Jackie arrives home from work, she discovers her silverware missing, further unsettling her.
There is also a noise coming from her bedroom, but to her relief, it is just the repairman dispatched
by Greg to fix the window. He claims it was a polite girl from within the household who
granted him entry, confusing Jackie even more since she only has a teenage boy.
In the evening, an unsettling occurrence takes place as the TV autonomously flickers to life,
broadcasting news of Justin's and another boy's disappearance.
Without thinking much about it, Jackie switches it off,
only for it to switch on once more.
At that moment, Greg arrives home from work,
diverting her attention from the bizarre incident.
Jackie voices her concerns about the repairman
potentially stealing their silverware, yet Greg dismisses her worries, accusing her of stirring
up unnecessary trouble. The husband notices that one more picture is missing from the wall, but he
chooses to ignore it. Greg then retreats to his room to freshen up, but Connor's hamster briefly
distracts him. To secure the furry creature in its cage, Greg follows it into Connor's room,
only to face an unexpected turn of events. As he enters the closet to retrieve the hamster,
Assuming it's a prank orchestrated by his son, Greg instructs Connor to unlock the door.
Jackie then rushes to help, but Connor is
nowhere to be seen in the room, having ventured out with his friends.
Another argument ensues between the couple when Jackie
tries to mend their deteriorating relationship by requesting Greg to
spend the night in their shared room. But still at odds with each other, Greg opts to arrange
his belongings in the guest room instead.
Later that night, Jackie is jolted awake by
a noise emanating from Connor's room.
Curiosity compels her to investigate, only to discover a game on the laptop with no one in sight.
Meanwhile, Connor returns to his room after quenching his thirst.
After a failed try to talk to him, Jackie’s gaze lands upon a peculiar
mask concealed beneath Connor's bed. But due to the strained nature of their relationship, she
chooses to leave her questions unanswered.
Later, we see someone pulling Greg's duvet in his sleep.
The following day, a phone call from work wakes him, and he gets up only to realize
he's peed on his bed, so he transfers the mattress to the washing machine.
Upon reaching the police station, Lieutenant Moriah enlightens Greg about the strikingly
similar modus operandi to that of Cole Gordon, a notorious child abductor Spitzky
imprisoned 15 years ago. Cole's lawyer now aims to exploit these recent incidents for a mistrial,
but based on the compelling evidence, including a trunk filled with green knives and clothes
belonging to multiple victims, Spitzky firmly believes that Cole is the culprit.
Lieutenant Moriah suggests interviewing the two boys who managed to escape Cole's clutches,
Braun and Travers.
Their recollections might hold vital details to thwart the criminal's defence.
Following orders, the officers head to Braun's residence. However, upon his parents' request,
Tommy Braun, who is visibly burned and traumatized, turns around when he erupts
into a frenzy of screams, compelling our officers to leave him alone.
Greg then listens to the interview tape from 15 years ago, in which Tommy says they met the perpetrator on
the railroad. He took them to the little house in the woods, and then vanished after they escaped.
Meanwhile, strange things continue to happen in Greg's house.
Jackie's ex-boyfriend, Todd, suddenly pays her a visit, hopeful of rekindling their relationship,
but Jackie realizes that she must end things with him.
As they argue with each other, a mug is
unexpectedly thrown from upstairs, striking Todd on the head.
With Connor still inside the house,
Jackie cannot risk allowing Todd in, so she guides him to the basement to tend to his wound.
At the same time, Connor is in the toilet when he hears some noise from the guest room,
but as he goes upstairs to check the room, no one is in sight.
Alarmed by the excessive bleeding,
Jackie decides to rush Todd to the hospital after dropping off her son at school.
Suddenly, a call from Todd's number reaches her phone, accompanied by
the faint sound of their gramophone playing in the background.
Obviously this is strange, but Todd claims he may have dropped the phone earlier.
Returning upstairs, she questions whether Connor has been on the roof or has started the music.
However, Connor denies any knowledge of what she's referring to.
On their way to school, they encounter Justin Whitter's mother, who turns out to live in Jackie’s neighborhood.
Jackie assures her that everything will be alright regarding her son.
In the dimly lit basement, while Todd searches for a bandage,
he is suddenly attacked from behind by someone.
Afterwards, in the woods, Greg and Spitzky make
the startling discovery that someone had stopped Justin by rigging a rope between two trees, which
explains the unseen force we saw at the beginning of the movie.
Upon Jackie's return home to assist
Todd in reaching the hospital, she discovers that he has already succumbed to his injuries.
Later that evening, when Greg returns home, he receives another distressing news: Jackie implores
his help dealing with Todd's lifeless body. She suspects Connor might have hurled the mug at Todd,
inadvertently leading to his demise. Consumed by anger towards his wife, Greg refuses to risk their
son's freedom by involving the authorities.
They then bring Todd’s lifeless body into the woods,
and it is revealed that the couple has decided to bury Todd's body there.
Meanwhile, while his parents are out working in the woods, Connor just returned home and
begins playing games.
Startled by strange noises from the laundry room, he ventures downstairs
to investigate, only to stumble upon silverware inside the washing machine.
Upon returning to his room, a message pops up on his laptop screen,
inquiring about his knowledge of "phrogging."
Curiosity piqued, Connor turns to Google, and learns that it refers to secretly inhabiting
someone else's home without their knowledge. As he is lost in his online exploration,
a man donning the same mask Jackie discovered in his room ominously appears behind him.
Once the couple returns home, their shock knows no bounds upon finding Connor bound in the bathtub,
and beside him is the unmistakable green knife.
As Jackie rushes unconscious Connor to the
hospital, a scene unfolds with Lieutenant Moriah informing Spitzky about a phone
call they received from a girl, who claims to have spotted the kidnapper, while Greg doesn’t answer his phone.
Afterwards, we see that Greg is determined to apprehend the intruder in his house.
While inspecting the guest room, Greg stumbles upon their family photographs that mysteriously
vanished from their frames.
Methodically scouring every corner, he finds himself caught off guard,
and mercilessly assaulted by the masked man.
The movie then switches to a few days earlier, where we see two teenagers, Mindy and Alec,
sneaking into Greg's house after the family leaves. Mindy is an experienced phrogger,
while Alec is a newbie who will be the cameraman to document their experience.
They plan to occupy the guest room,
and conceal themselves in an uninhabited space whenever the family returns home.
They’ll also stay no longer than four to five days before jumping to the next house.
While Mindy tries to maintain a low profile and avoid disturbing the homeowners,
Alec displays a lack of regard for such precautions by smoking outside.
Later on, after Mindy has fallen asleep again, Alec sneaks out of the room,
and captures footage of the family sleeping, including Greg, who is sleeping on the couch.
On the next day, we’re brought back to the event at the beginning of the film. While the mother is
preparing the breakfast, Alec proposes the idea of toying with the family's sanity for amusement,
but Mindy sternly forbids him from doing so.
Afterwards, as Greg is getting ready to leave
for work, he notices that one of the family photos hanging on the wall is missing.
The two phroggers then hear the sound of a broken window, and we already know what made it happen.
It turns out that Alec was the one who unknowingly left the mug on the roof with the cigarettes inside,
and when Greg checked the roof via the guest room, the duo was still inside, hiding from him.
Later, a repairman arrives at the door, and since he has heard their conversation, Mindy grants him entry.
This is why the man told Jackie that her daughter had let him in, and Alec is seen
stealing Jackie's silverware.
While Mindy puts their belongings in the basement, Alec takes a
few sleeping pills from Greg's room, crushes them, and dissolves them thoroughly in a water bottle.
Once they confirm the repairman's departure, Mindy firmly decides never to venture downstairs again,
unwilling to take further risks. In the meantime, they learn the distressing news
that Justin Whitter, another local kidnapping victim from the past month, was taken while
wearing a green soccer jersey in the nearby woods. Alec then deviously gives the drugged water to
Mindy, causing her to become drowsy and fall asleep. Seeing the opportunity to torment the
family, he employs a mobile app to play tricks with the television.
Up next, his primary focus shifts to Greg.
He releases the hamster from its enclosure, and lies in wait inside Connor's room.
As soon as Greg enters the cupboard to get the animal, Alec locks the door,
trapping him inside.
Later that night while everyone is asleep, it is revealed that Alec is the one who pulled the
duvet, and urinated on Greg that night.
The following day, Mindy catches him smoking on
the roof and pleads with him not to engage in such behaviour, terrorizing people and
disrupting their lives. Alec argues that they should simply have fun, but Mindy
urges him to stop. In a fit of annoyance, Alec hurls the mug to the ground, unaware
that Todd is standing below.
Overwhelmed by the situation, Mindy decides it's time to leave the house.
However, their belongings are still in the basement, and then suddenly, Connor makes his way
towards the room to investigate the commotion they caused, so they have to stay hidden for a while.
To divert Jackie and Todd's attention, Alec devises a plan involving Todd's dropped phone.
Hearing the music voice on the call, Jackie returns upstairs,
allowing Mindy to retrieve her luggage from the basement. This is when Jackie asks Connor about
the music being played on their gramophone, and then the mother sends the son to school.
Concealing herself behind boxes in the basement, Mindy becomes an eyewitness to a heinous crime
unfolding before her eyes.
To our surprise, the man who viciously strikes Todd on the head is none other than Greg himself.
He then retrieves a bag from the basement, placing it in the trunk of his car alongside the bat.
Greg actually returns to his house to get the document he left behind, before heading back to the office.
When Mindy is about to leave the basement, Jackie unexpectedly returns home,
forcing Mindy to stay in the basement.
Later that evening, the couple argue about Todd’s body,
while Mindy witnesses Greg acting like he just found out.
On the other hand,
Alec strategically places a destroyed family photo from Greg's collection inside the guest room.
As Greg and Jackie leave the house to bury Todd, Mindy cautiously returns upstairs, only to
witness Alec binding and restraining Connor while wearing the unsettling mask. Filled with panic,
she attempts to contact the police, but Alec intercepts her and unintentionally causes Mindy
to fall down the stairs, losing consciousness. Despite initially refusing her instructions,
Alec's concern for his friend compels him to take her to the hospital.
Setting Connor in the bathtub with the green knife nearby, he hides Mindy and her luggage in Greg’s
car trunk, and attempts to start the vehicle.
Unexpectedly, the couple returns from the woods,
forcing Alec to take refuge in the garage.
After discovering Connor's condition, Jackie
rushes him to the hospital, while Alec's plan hits a snag when Greg takes off in his own car.
Meanwhile, Mindy, who is still in Greg's car, awakens to discover a green jersey in his bag,
the same one worn by the missing boy on the day of his abduction. At this point,
it becomes clear that the kidnapper of Justin Whitter is none other than the detective himself.
When the car halts in a secluded area, Mindy seizes the opportunity to contact 911,
revealing the kidnapper's location, but since she doesn't know the exact place,
the authorities will take some time to track her on GPS.
In the midst of the woods, she comes across a caravan a.k.a the little house, and decides to look into it.
As she enters, she discovers the shocking sight of the two missing boys confined inside.
But to her bad luck,
She is captured by our detective Greg, and his eyes catch sight of the camera, allowing
him to learn that Mindy and her friend have been secretly residing in his home for several days.
Long story short, he takes Mindy back to his house, and asks her to stand up,
before shooting at her, resulting in her demise. Retrieving another pistol from his jacket,
Greg fires a shot at the opposite wall, and cunningly positions the weapon in Mindy's hand,
creating a false narrative of her attacking a law enforcement officer.
Back to the earlier scene,
after Greg stumbles upon their family photographs in the guest room, he finds himself caught off
guard, and mercilessly assaulted by the masked man who turns out to be Alec.
After the brief struggle, Alec gains the upper hand, holding Greg at gunpoint. It is at this
point that Alec claims that he knew Greg was the one who kidnapped the town’s missing boys,
but Greg blames Alec for the crime and Alec wants to stop the detective from investigating the case.
But then, as the light illuminates Alec’s face, it seems like Greg begins to realize something,
but Alec doesn’t want to hear his explanation. Alec fires a fatal shot, swiftly extinguishing
Greg's life.
His eyes are filled with tears, just as Officer Spitzky arrives at the scene,
and shoots Alec in the shoulder. Spitzky is taken aback when Alec immediately
recognizes him.
Afterwards, the police and medical help arrive at Greg’s house and the caravan in the woods,
where the police successfully rescue Justin Whitter and another missing boy.
It is here that Spitzky finds the damning evidence: knives and Justin's jersey concealed in Greg's trunk.
Alec managed to reveal the truth to Spitzky; our mysterious serial killer,
who has murdered and molested many boys from the town, is none other than Greg.
Misusing his position, Greg continued the abductions and killings, perpetuating a cycle of terror while
framing others for the crime, such as Cole Gordon.
Alec, who is still alive, is promptly transported
to the hospital for medical care. He recalls the tragic incident when he and Tommy were
playing on the railroad, revealing that Alec is one of the two boys who managed to escape the
kidnapping that occurred 15 years ago. The two boys were then approached by the perpetrator,
who was our officer.