Controlled by fear and drowning in loneliness, an agoraphobic hotel clerk is pushed to the edge of her own sanity by a malicious spirit; but when a new love gives her hope, she must face her sanity head on, or risk losing her very soul.

SYNOPSIS:

In the confines of a dead and gnarled forest a beautiful, young woman, Beth, is heavily pursued by a scavenging beast. As she runs through the thicket and severs branches she realizes that the forest is alive and pulsating. The forest bleeds like punctured veins as the beast inflicts its relentless damage. Swept from her feet by a tidal wave of blood and fear, Beth is thrown into a river where she meets her untimely death. Sudden to awake, she once again finds herself in her hotel room, alone and lost over the death of her family. After speaking with a suicide help line to calms her fears, she begins her day just like any other. Agoraphobia is one of the many problems that Beth grapples with. The hotel in which she resides is also her place of employment. The owner of the hotel and object of Beth’s desire, JC, is sympathetic towards her and allows for this arrangement. Like Beth, JC has a few faults of his own and is embarking on a transition from his former self. Along with owning the hotel JC has an ongoing partnership with his best friend, Marc, but with his current unhappiness, JC believes that ending the partnership and selling the hotel might just be the best answer. Marc and his high school sweetheart, Katie, think the best thing for JC is to settle down and become a family man. In response, he decides to ask Beth out. Beth’s initial thought is to say no as an unseen spirit manifests and exhibits an ability to control her fears and faults. Katie knowingly offers Beth a shoulder and urges her to make an active change, or she will die emotionally. Beth accepts the date with JC. For the first time in three years, Beth makes her introduction into the outside world, but there is something she is not aware of: she has crossed more than one threshold. As the night wears on she finds herself consumed by jealousy and fear. While JC and the gang enjoy ! #! themselves, Beth is overrun with emotion and the diner around her skews. The unknowing, malicious spirit tightens its grip on Beth’s sanity. As Beth recognizes the perceived world, the spell is broken and she finds herself back in reality. Unable to cope, she abruptly leaves the diner. The next morning as JC helps Marc open his pizza shop, which also serves as the hotel’s dining experience. Wendy, the new owner of the hotel, enters with an eagerness to learn about her investment and its employees. As JC gives her a tour of the place they find Virgil, JC’s dog and the hotel mascot, in the most eerie of circumstances. Unsure of the body language between Wendy and JC and their reaction to Virgil, Beth quickly interrupts and takes the dog back upstairs. Later that night, Beth finds herself stuck inside the laundry chute on the third floor after attempting to clear a blockage of sheets and comforters. Katie cues Beth to bounce on top of the unlaundered bedding while Katie pulls from below. As the clog gives way, Beth is induced into a free-fall followed by a sudden stop when her clothing snags and she is left to dangle. Another one of her problems emerges, Claustrophobia, conveyed by an unknown entity that bangs its way into the chute. Looking up into the labyrinth of shadows, a potential figure is seen to be lingering within. As Beth loses all sense of her being, the chute door flies open to reveal JC here to save the day. Beth, shaken by the fresh and peculiar experience, starts to open up to JC as they sit poolside. He takes an interest in Beth and decides to help her overcome her fears. This commitment from JC strengthens Beth’s feelings towards him and they share an awkward kiss. Wendy begins showing an interest in JC as well while striking up a friendship with Katie. Marc asks JC if he can use the honeymoon suite, JC in turn denies him. The irked Marc starts to bring up old ! $! memories including JC’s infidelity and the suicide of his late fiancé three years prior. Both of these weigh heavily on his mind. JC gives into Marc’s request as he ponders a new life with Beth. JC escorts Beth back into the diner, thwarting all of her fears along the way. This official date and what seems like Beth’s first taste and smell of the fresh air comes to a screeching halt as Wendy starts showing signs of conflict. The malevolent spirit cranks up the heat and gives Beth an intimate show of her powers. Convinced she has lost her mind, Beth is pushed to the edge of suicide. As luck would have it, Virgil appears. He guides her into JC’s arms at which point she gives herself to him. Wendy starts to abuse her power by hammering Beth, planting seeds of doubt, and admitting to having been with JC intimately. She calls Beth a “little girl” and thrusts herself into JC, leaving Beth to question JC’s loyalty. As Marc’s big proposal night gets underway, JC keeps Katie entertained and we learn of their secret, buried past. The two of them move their discussion into the hotel bar for more drinks. Meanwhile, in the honeymoon suite, Wendy begins to make advances of seduction towards Marc and he learns that it is not JC that she is after. Wendy unveils an uncanny ability to manipulate people and things around her as Marc just misses her reflections. As it turns out, Wendy is the physical manifestation of the malicious spirit. Wendy reveals to Marc the secret kept between his best friend and lover. Weakened by this news, Marc’s mind is taken over by Wendy’s supremacy. Back down stairs, Beth is finishing up her closing duties when she hits upon an eruption of passionate sex between Katie and JC. She shatters a door as she evades from the horrible scene. The piercing sound of the glass breaking disrupts the spell revealing JC and Katie merely talking and joking. Haunting sounds echo through the hotel. ! %! On the pool deck Beth realizes she is forever alone in this world and death might house her only peace. She plunges towards the bottom of the pool and prepares herself to die. Once again, Virgil appears guiding her back to safety and into clarity. She recalls her favorite book, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and is reminded that in order to pass from “Inferno” into “Purgatory”, the sinner must recognize their sin. As she recognizes her own transgressions her perceived world transitions into a new reality. What Beth forgot about in Dante’s Inferno is: the Minotaur is the guardian. Meanwhile, Wendy has morphed into the full-fledged beast and threatens to kill Beth’s friends if she does not end her own life. In an instant the Minotaur is back in the hotel and leaves Beth to contemplate all options laid out in front of her. As Beth chooses to save her friends she pursues the beast. Once inside the labyrinth halls of the hotel, the going is slow. Confused as the world around her continues to contort, she is forced to helplessly watch as a spell bound Marc kills Katie in the room that was intended for his proposal. Powerless, Beth runs through the labyrinth halls as she loses herself in a seemingly reflective world. She is forced to watch as JC, is attacked by his best friend and Marc’s own rage becomes his own demise as death closes in on him. Beth uses Virgil’s barks as a guide out of the hellhole. Thanks to the brave K9, Beth finds her reflection inverted on the pool deck below. She turns on her flight mode and chooses to leave the hotel altogether, but in her escape she is confronted by the device that is behind it all: Hell. Gnarled trees that bleed and speak of their lost souls are bound by roots to the dead ground. Her dream that she has habitually awoken from has come into fruition. Needing to kill herself in order to reset her perception, the Minotaur pulls out all of the stops. Beth learns that: in recognition lies control, and in turn, she is able to defeat the Minotaur. ! &! Now able to transcend into Purgatory, not only does Beth leave Hell behind, but she also sheds the hell that she created for those who were left behind in effects of her suicide. JC is relieved of his guilt, which encourages him to move on with his life. Marc and Katie’s engagement goes off without a hitch. Beth and Virgil sit at the edge of an abyss. Purgatory is the only thing between them and Paradise off in the distance.

PERCEP7ION