Summaries

Synopsis

Opening scene, a figure takes several live rats from a box and kills them in a blender in a dark kitchen, pouring the liquid contents into a bowl and storing it in a dirty fridge.Alice is laying in her bed on a man's lap, describing a nightmare she keeps having where she is swimming at night under the stars, but then the ceiling closes in, and the water turns to cement and she gasps for air then wakes up. The man, Michael, comforts her and says he knows "this" is hard, but its hard for him too. We find out that he is married, and he and Alice have been having an affair where he continues to promise he will leave his wife when his son goes off to college. He promises Alice he will be taking her away to Italy for a long trip, she seems happy but also frustrated because she doesn't believe any of his promises.Alice goes to a support group for love addicts, where she confesses she is still seeing Michael. Her friend tells her in the parking lot afterwards that she need to cut off all contact with Michael immediately. She says that she will.Back in her apartment Alice is startled by a worker in her apartment, a woman with a burned face, who tells her that her hair had clogged the bathroom tub drain. She also informs Alice that there was a mouse hole that she has closed. Alice offers to pay cash for the woman, Shelley, to clean her apartment twice a week.Alice receives calls and texts from Michael, but ignores them. He sends a new suitcase to her apartment with a note, telling her to pack for Italy. She reluctantly takes a call from Michael, but tells him to leave her alone. He asks if this is "the no contact thing again" insinuating she has tried to break things off before.When Michael says he is coming over, Alice reaches out to her sponsor for support in trying to end things with Michael, who tells her to distract herself. Shelley is cleaning, so Alice asks her to stay for dinner even though its last minute. They ignore Michael at the door, and Alice explains to Shelley about the affair. Shelley stays to keep Alice company and they watch a movie together. When Alice falls asleep, Shelley reaches out to touch her and then moves off the couch instead. Shelley drives her home but when the subject of Alice teaching her to use makeup comes up, Shelley abruptly leaves the car.Back in her house, Shelley takes the bowl of liquified rats to a locked shipping container and commands "eat or I will feed it to you" to the shadows. A figure crawls forward, chains rattling and slurps at the liquid while Shelley watches.Michael calls Alice from his home, and we see his wife watching him from inside as he tries to get Alice to continue their relationship. Alice hangs up on him.Shelley and Alice spend time together again, and Alice does her makeup and has her try on a yellow dress, telling her she looks nice. While Alice is asleep, Shelley uses something on a rag to drug Alice and takes a clay mold of her face. Shelley sits at Alice's vanity while the mold cures, looking at her made up face in the mirror. She has a flashback, she is sitting in her childhood home and her mother tells her not to eat too much salt because she will look puffy, taking away her food even when Shelley says she's still hungry. Her mother tells her its time to get ready and applies lipstick and foundation to Shelleys face, telling her how pretty she is. Shelley tells her mother she doesn't want to do this. Her mother slaps her and says that she needs to watch the back talk or she will cut out Shelley's tongue. A man comes to the house, and pays $500 for an hour. Shelley's mother brings the man to Shelley's room and brightly announces she is going to tidy the kitchen and will come knock at 7:30. The flashback ends.Shelley uses the face mold to make a mask of Alice's face and wears it with the yellow dress that she gave her. The next day Alice wretches into the toilet, clearly not feeling well. Shelley comes over and asks to make her tea so she feels better, though Alice doesn't want company, she lets her stay when Shelley insists. Michael stalks Alice after her pilates class and the two sleep together. We see Shelley watching from outside the room.Alice's sponsor calls her to ask why she hasn't been at any meetings and scolds Alice for seeing Michael again. The two fight and Alice hangs up. Her sponsor calls back and apologizes, saying she just doesn't want Alice to get hurt.As she is sitting on her bed, Shelley suddenly grabs her from behind in an attempt to drug her again but Alice struggles and screams. Shelley overpowers her, forcing the rag over her mouth and Alice passes out.Michael is eating dinner at home with his wife and son, discussing a car his son wants when he gets a text from "Alice" asking him to come over. He deletes the text and continues dinner with his family, his wife asks him to come to the paint store that night but he lies and says he has to go back to work. She does not seem convinced. As he leaves we see her sneaking out after him to see where he really goes. She sees him pull into the garage of Alice's apartment building. Michael knocks on Alice's door and finds it ajar, the lighting is low and quiet music is playing, he heads to the bedroom when Shelley comes up from behind him, spraying something in his eyes before tackling him to the ground with the rag over his mouth and he passes out. Laying next to his unconscious body, Shelley has another flashback.Young Shelley is sitting on her bed as a different man counts cash to her mother, she takes the money and tells the man that for another $100 she will throw in an extra half hour. He says "We'll see" as she closes the door behind him and we see him reach for the buttons on his shirt. Shelley's mother is cooking in the kitchen when the man screams, and she rushes to Shelley's room. The man screams that Shelley nearly bit off his finger as a bloody Shelley darts past her mother and out of her room. He punches her mother in the stomach, and she falls, he takes his money back from her. In the kitchen he washes his wounded hand as Shelley comes up behind him and stabs him in the leg. Enraged, he grabs a boiling pot of water from the stove and throws it in Shelley's face. She screams and writhes in pain on the floor. The flashback ends.Alice is bound with tape over her mouth next to a similarly restrained Michael. Shelley rouses her and we see a knife has been taped to Alice's hands. Shelley rouses Michael and tells Alice to "end this" pointing to the spot on Michael's neck where she wants her to stab him. Alice resists so Shelley puts on a pair of gloves and shows them a container of hydrochloric acid, explaining that it can do just as much damage as "this" gesturing to her burned face. She pours the acid on Michaels exposed leg while he screams. Alice whimpers in sympathy and Shelley tells her that he will suffer for hours and that Alice can stop that from happening. Shelley forces Alice upright and continues to pour acid on Michael while instructing Alice to stab him. When Alice continues to hesitate, Shelley rips away the plastic covering Michael's mouth and pours the acid down his throat, causing him to spit up blood. Michael, in pain and unable to speak, nods to tell Alice its okay and she stabs him, falling back and sobbing in fear.Shelley then stands over Alice, telling her she is "perfect now" before injecting her with an unknown liquid.Outside, Michael's wife is on a call to a friend, panicking that she just found out Michael is cheating. Shelley bring a suitcase to the garage and unlocks Michaels car, putting it in the trunk. His wife, Helen, is distraught, and sees his car leaving. She quickly hangs up the phone to follow him but calls her friend back, concerned that they don't know where he's going. She frets that the car is low on gas and her call to her friend drops. Her car runs out of gas, we see Michaels car driving away.Alice regains consciousness and finds Shelley in front of her, who says "I have to go, but when I get back you'll be very comfortable." She leaves her there, tied up in a bathtub.Shelley returns to the shipping container with another bowl of bloody liquid for the figure trapped there. Shelley has another flashback, she puts her doll in its chair at the vanity, and we see her newly scarred face peer in at the doll. Her mother enters her room to put medicine on her burns, telling Shelley that she needs to heal so that she can start taking clients again so her mother won't have to go back to work at the fertilizer plant. Shelley says she won't take men anymore and they argue. Her mother leaves the room, but returns with large scissors to make good on her threat to cut out Shelley's tongue for back talk. She freezes just as she is about to cut saying she is sorry and hugging Shelley, who then stabs her mother in the back with the scissors.Back in the shipping container it is revealed that the captive is Shelleys mother, tongue cut out, as she is force fed by Shelley.Hellen is help by a passerby with gas, and she continues her pursuit. She finds Michaels car, and peers into the house, not seeing anyone she enters, and finds Alice trapped in the tub just as Shelley returns. Alice tried to tell Hellen that they are in danger while Helen asks where Michael is, as his car is outside. Alice says she doesn't know telling Helen to get a knife to cut off the rope and hurry. Helen begins to cut the rope but realizes that Alice is the mistress Michael has been seeing. She frees Alice and the two almost make it outside when Shelley appears, smashing Helen's head in with a shovel repeatedly. Alice runs, and tried hiding. Shelley brandishes another syringe, but runs the opposite of Alice hiding place. Alice takes the car keys from Helens body and makes it to the car - but Shelley breaks the glass and sticks her with the syringe. She falls to the ground when she tries to run.Alice regains consciousness in her apartment, wearing the dress she gave Shelley. She tries to leave her room only to realize she has been shackled there. She moves to the window where Shelley appears. The movie ends.