Locked In

The story begins with a series of brutal murders where victims are decapitated by a mysterious killer dressed in dark clothing and wearing a black fencing mask. The first victim is Meaghan, a young, attractive woman leaving her job at Grove Health Spa. Following her, Ben, a young car dealership worker, is killed while closing up. Then Paul, a drunk man outside a bar, Lance, a gluttonous man eating on his porch, and a cheating couple (Sean and Donna) at a motel are all decapitated. Finally, Ken, a dishwasher at a restaurant, becomes another victim. The story then shifts to a haunted house attraction owned by Eric, where the manager, Wesley, and caretaker Andre report strange supernatural occurrences. The haunted house begins experiencing genuine paranormal activity, with a real ghost being spotted among the Halloween attractions. Eric is initially dismissive of these reports, but soon finds himself deeply entangled in increasingly disturbing events. The haunted house features a room displaying the seven decapitated heads of the recent murder victims. In an eerie turn of events, these heads begin speaking to Eric when he's alone in the building. The heads accuse him of being their killer, though Eric maintains his innocence. Meanwhile, Eric starts experiencing vivid dreams or visions of each murder, where he witnesses the killer's actions but claims he isn't the perpetrator. The story becomes more complex as Eric begins to experience time loss and confusion about his whereabouts. While he believes he's been going home and maintaining his normal routine, his employees reveal he's been sleeping in the haunted house for days, drinking heavily, and behaving erratically. The boundary between reality and hallucination becomes increasingly blurred. A parallel storyline develops involving relationships and tensions among the haunted house employees. Sara, an attractive employee, is involved with both Logan and Sylvester, creating a web of workplace drama. These relationships become relevant as Eric's mental state deteriorates and his grip on reality weakens. The screenplay reveals that Eric's ex-wife had an affair with Ken, one of the victims, which adds another layer of complexity to the murder mystery. Additionally, a woman named Gloria, whose head is mysteriously missing, begins communicating with Eric through phone calls and apparitions, demanding that he find her head. As Eric's mental state continues to decline, he witnesses (or dreams about) more murders occurring within the haunted house. In one particularly disturbing sequence, he appears to kill Andre, one of his employees, though it's unclear whether this happened or was another hallucination, as Andre appears alive in subsequent scenes. The haunted heads eventually agree to let Eric leave the house temporarily to search for Gloria's head. After searching various locations, including a lakefront property, Eric discovers Gloria's frozen head in his freezer, though he has no memory of how it got there. He returns the head to the haunted house, placing it with the others. Throughout the story, Eric experiences periods where he's locked inside the haunted house, unable to leave, with doors that won't open and windows that won't break. The house seems to have a will of its own, trapping him inside until he completes certain tasks or faces certain truths. The screenplay ends with a chilling twist: After finally being allowed to leave the haunted house and returning home, Eric finds the mysterious killer, still in the fencing mask and holding a machete, sitting on his bed. The story closes with Eric's shocked exclamation, leaving the audience to question whether Eric was the killer all along, whether he was being haunted by the real killer, or whether the entire experience was a psychological break from reality. The narrative skillfully blends elements of psychological thriller, supernatural horror, and slasher film, maintaining ambiguity about whether the events are supernatural, psychological, or real. The story keeps the audience guessing about Eric's role in the murders - whether he's the killer, a witness, or possibly experiencing a complete mental breakdown. The haunted house setting provides a perfect backdrop for the blurring of reality and illusion, making it increasingly difficult for both Eric and the audience to distinguish what's real from what's imagined.