Brights

The story begins with the brutal murder of a man named Craig, who flashes his brights at an oncoming car only to be stalked, blinded, and ultimately dismembered by a terrifying masked duo in a vacant parking lot. This grim opening sets the tone for the film’s uniquely terrifying world—where a flash of headlights can mean a death sentence. Derek Darr, a middle-aged man with mounting debts and a marriage on the brink, is introduced navigating a soul-crushing Los Angeles traffic jam. Already stressed and on edge, Derek becomes the next target after returning a bright-flash to a mysterious pickup truck. What seems like a minor act of road rage quickly escalates into a relentless pursuit by a series of masked assailants driving different vehicles, each flashing their brights like a signal of doom. As Derek tries to make a series of criminal drops around the city on behalf of the icy and enigmatic Elyse Hilliard—his creditor and manipulator—the chase intensifies. He dodges and flees the attackers, witnesses a man drown inside a car filled with water, and barely escapes with his life from a violent garage assault. The masked pursuers are relentless, faceless, and operate like a cultish death squad. They wear grotesque plaster masks molded from the faces of people frozen in moments of abject terror. Through harrowing encounters with drug addicts, violent criminals, and the vapid elite of Los Angeles, Derek delivers two kilos of heroin, completes a shady payoff, and returns to Hilliard's mansion in the Hollywood Hills—just in time to see her sell the drugs to a pair of smug yuppies heading to Morocco. Derek, once again dismissed, pleads to stay the night for safety, but Hilliard refuses. As a cruel consolation, she hands him a revolver, but reminds him that using it will only escalate things. Still pursued, Derek is eventually picked up by an ambulance driven by Carl, a seemingly helpful paramedic. But Carl, too, is part of the nightmare. He pulls a gun on Derek, disables him, and delivers him to the same crew of masked killers. Derek is stripped of his identity, handed a blank, mannequin-like mask, and forced into submission. What follows is a chilling transformation: Derek, who began the night as a reluctant errand boy, becomes a silent member of the death squad. He flashes brights at a new victim, closing the cycle. The film ends on a grim note, suggesting that Derek—having faced a world where identity is annihilated by terror—has surrendered to the only way to survive: becoming one of them.