Man in a Box

ROY KLATTER (51) emerges from a shed in his backyard, carrying a hunting rifle. He takes a look around his yard and goes inside his house. Three houses over, CLIFF TYSON is inside his new apartment with his girlfriend DANA. Cliff is an unemployed photographer. Dana leaves for a waitressing gig back in Los Angeles. Cliff is alone in the house with no food, no cable and no internet. Cliff leaves to go to the store but is surprised to find the block surrounded by cops. There is a hostage situation in a house near Cliff's apartment. Cliff finds a small digital camera and, along with his iPhone, sneaks over to the other house. Inside, Roy Klatter is in the living room with his rifle and a box of rounds. The cops think he has the rifle to his son's head but there is no hostage here at all. Cliff discovers that the back door to Roy's house is unlocked and slips inside. Cliff sneaks around, takes pictures and some video, but is discovered. Roy takes Cliff hostage. Roy acts crazy, but it seems like an act. Cliff's phone rings in his pocket. Roy answers and finds himself talking to Dana. Roy toys with her and hangs up. Dana panics, turns her car around and calls the cops. She eventually gets through to the cops outside. Lt. O'Hara asks Roy who Cliff Tyson is. Roy toys with O'Hara. Dana calls Cliff's phone. Roy grills Dana and tears apart she and Cliff's relationship. Cliff tells Roy to just kill him and for a second, Roy looks ready to do just that. O'Hara calls again. Roy answers and there's a back and forth but this time Cliff yells that there never was a hostage. Roy snaps and Cliff lunges at him. They fight and Cliff emerges with the gun. Dana returns and as she tries to find a way into the house, Cliff demands answers from Roy. Still in control, Roy advances on Cliff, who almost shoots him. Roy suddenly darts away from him and hides somewhere in the house. Cliff has the rifle and stalks Roy, on edge. Roy taunts him, unseen. Cliff gets too close to a bedroom window and the cops shoot at him. Dana approaches the house from a block away, trying to find a way in. Cliff hears a scraping sound and is so tightly wound that he actually sees a deputy enter the back door. He shoots - but it's actually Dana. Roy knocks him out. Roy has them both at gunpoint in the living room. The bullet grazed Dana's neck. She's alive and angry. O'Hara blares questions through a bullhorn. Roy toys with Cliff, tosses him the rifle and tells Cliff to shoot either him or Dana. Cliff tries to get to the heart of why all this happened. In the end, he tosses the gun back to Roy and yanks up the blinds in the window facing the street. He and Dana dive to the floor. The cops shoot Roy and storm the house. Roy is alive, but badly wounded. Cliff throttles him, screaming for answers... Roy just chuckles. Cliff is hauled away. O'Hara tries to talk to Cliff in a police car. Cliff says whatever happened in the house - it's his story now. He tells O'Hara that he and Dana are broken. O'Hara asks him who he is. Cliff says he doesn't know, but he thinks he's about to find out. O'Hara leaves him, and an officer drives him away.