Logline

A college student who takes a pet sitting job for an elderly man finds herself held captive in the cellar of a maniac who purposely set up her employer as the culprit behind her disappearance.

Home for college, Emily Landen wants to enjoy her summer off from school at home with her mom Debra, her dad Jeff, and her younger sister Megan. When she wants spending money, Jeff tells Emily to get a summer job. Debra suggests pet sitting and has Emily hang up flyers around town.

After murdering a local woman who looked a lot like his deceased wife Karen, high school janitor Josh Mayer is on the lookout for the next replacement. He spots Emily hanging up a flyer and decides she looks almost like Karen and takes a phone number tab home with him. When Josh’s remote neighbor, the sweet, elderly Charlie Wells, asks if he knows a pet sitter for his dog Sampson, Josh recommends Emily. Charlie meets with her and hires the college student to pet sit during the upcoming weekend while he plans to go fishing alone.

Emily runs into an old friend from high school, Greg. They go on a date but have to wait for a second one because of Emily’s job. Alone and spooked at the remote house, Emily chats with Greg on the phone and invites him to come by later. Meanwhile, Sampson needs to go outside in the dark. Emily uses a flashlight to take him. Watching nearby, Josh sets off firecrackers that spook the dog and send him into the woods. 

Emily gives chase. Josh catches her off guard and uses chloroform to knock her out. After he plants Emily’s blood in the trunk of her car and inside Charlie’s house, he chains her up in his cellar and attempts to make her into her lost wife. Emily tries to find a way out, but Josh has thought of everything.

Greg goes looking for Emily and finds her broken necklace near Josh’s house. As he moves in to investigate, Josh knocks him out with a poker and throws him down the cellar steps. Although Emily pleads for Greg’s life, Josh is enraged and kills him in front of her, after fracturing Emily’s arm.

Debra is frantic to find her daughter and confronts the detective in charge of the case, Ava Sanchez. Ava and her partner Ron tell Debra to back off and let them handle it. They arrest Charlie for Emily’s disappearance after the lab results show the blood found at the scene belongs to Emily. As Ava thinks more about the case, she starts to suspect Josh, as both missing women look a lot like his deceased wife. She goes to speak with Josh at the same time Emily mounts an escape attempt.

Josh is pushed into killing Ava to save himself. Emily gets free and stabs Josh, then flees. She encounters Ron outside and waits in his car while he goes inside to get her abductor. After shooting him, Josh goes after Emily. She fights back with a fury and returns to her family, and their newest members, Charlie and Sampson.