Psychotika

BEN is an attractive, charismatic twenty-five year old man, but like many of his generation, he has yet to find any intimacy or love in this modern world. Suffering from depression and insomnia while working as a minimum-wage warehouse picker, he has few pleasures other than playing an online first-person shooter and drinking heavily with his friends JOHN and KYLE, two men who love to ridicule him at every opportunity. The only woman in his life is a girl called LIZZY who randomly teases via private message but never talks enough to arrange a date, never mind form a relationship. This monotiny takes a turn for Ben, however, when two things suddenly happen: an exciting new girl at work by the name of JORDAN flirts heavily with him, and strange activity from a seemingly abandoned house on his street starts to get his attention.

One day, Ben awakens to find he’s got a new app installed on his phone, one he doesn’t remember downloading but is aware of. This hookup app, created purely for people to have sex, only allows users to upload a picture of a body part, and a girl with a serpent tattoo has asked to match. Ben, a traditional guy when it comes to relationships, is put off at first, but desperate enough to remain curious. That day, at work, Ben spots new girl Jordan has what looks like the same tattoo, but she is difficult and mysterious, plus claims to be a lesbian, leaving Ben unsure what to think or do. We then learn that Ben lives with a Beast who seems to be a manifestation of his frustrations, and torments him over his inability to find love. Then another new girl who seems to connect with him comes onto the scene, a girl named IRIS, a fellow geek interested in philosophy. However, Ben has turned pessimistic, and has become haunted by some of the dark things that have occurred during his childhood, specifically his mother’s suicide.

The mysterious abandoned house on his street seems to be calling to him, and Ben finds himself invited to visit when he believes he’s talking to Jordan via the hookup app. What he finds inside though is something other-worldly and linked to the horrors in his mind, causing him to flee in fear and question his sanity. Then things get even worse when he goes into work to find he’s been reported for inappropriate, invasive behavior by a co-worker, but can’t tell if it’s Jordan who he knows lies to manipulate him. He instead gets closer to Iris, who takes the opportunity to chat with him when he’s out drinking but seems almost darker and more tormented than him when they discuss life and death. This leads to him being drawn to the abandoned house once again, which has changed radically inside, and forces him to face his demons.

Now struggling with his own sanity and struggling to tell what is and isn’t real, Ben’s relationships with the Beast, his friends, and the women around him become more complex and extreme. Jordan runs hot and cold while Iris confesses attraction to his idiotic friend Kyle, and Lizzy continues to message while never seemingly wanting to meet in person. Ben is rapidly losing faith in himself and the only constant is the house, which, against the Beast’s advice, Ben visits looking for answers, only to be forced through a set of torturous experiences linked to his own psyche that awaken a terrifying Monster that lives in the attic. Now really struggling to get his job done correctly, maintain his friendships, or see any way of finding love, Ben believes he has no real purpose in this world.

Finding the Beast to be more of an ally and less of a foe, Ben marches back into work and quits his job spectacularly before going on one last drinking binge and telling John and Kyle what he really thinks of them: that one of them scares women away because he hates them and that the other uses them for sex and disposes of them afterward. Now believing that he’s being called to save Jordan, Lizzy, and Iris from the Monster in the house, he does just that, entering one last time and beating a series of thrilling tests that save each woman in turn, and ends with him confronting the Monster one-on-one, which he defeats by sacrificing himself for what he believes is a greater good.

PSYCHOTIKA is an abstract psychological horror that thematically deals with the topic of the male loneliness epidemic and the rise of extreme misogyny along with toxic masculinity in today’s world. Think Donnie Darko meets The Lighthouse. This is a story that asks more questions than it answers and takes the audience on a journey that is sordid as it is philosophical, and with bouts of comedy, sex, and action that make sure it is as entertaining as it is thought provoking.