SYNOPSIS:

BEN walks into the La Costa Herald to place an ad. He constantly looks inside of his backpack as if there is an animal inside. Outside of the Herald, LOUIS, a very handsome man, begins to follow Ben onto the bus and to the grocery store where Ben works. Ben walks home talking to MR. JINX, the sock monkey he keeps in his backpack. Ben perceives that the monkey communicates with him back. Ben begins to feel paranoid about getting caught after his latest murder. At the police station, detectives DON DEFRANCO and BILLY are discussing the series of murders in the town when LUCY introduces the theory that the murders in the city are from two people, not just one. Defranco is reading the daily newspaper when he comes across the ad that Ben placed. The ad states, “Psychoboy. Nothing to prove but your body and mine. Do your worst. I was here first. Mr. Jinx”. Defranco asks Billy to contact the Herald and find out who placed the ad. Louis leaves work and gets into his Bimmer. As he stops at a red light, he checks out two blonde girls in the car next to him. Once he is able to get their attention, he invites them to his house later that night. Ben leaves the arcade and runs into a homeless girl. The homeless girl offers Ben sex for cash and Ben accepts by taking her to his apartment. The two begin to get sexually physical, but after the girl playfully calls Ben “Daddy”, Ben snaps and suffocates the prostitute to death. Mr. Jinx expresses Ben’s mistake in killing the girl in the apartment and gives Ben instructions on how to dispose of the body. Billy pays a visit to the Herald in order to find out the person who placed the ad. LILLY, the employee at the Herald, gives the sketch artist the perfect facial description of Ben. As Ben is getting ready to dispose of the body in his apartment, he finds a note from Louis on his door admiring his “work”. Ben decides to meet with Louis at a construction site. Louis wants to team up with Ben and take over the town but Ben is reluctant. After a physical altercation, Ben steals Louis’s wallet and runs away. Louis sneaks into Ben’s apartment and leaves another note with methods to get in contact again. Louis and Ben meet up at the construction site. Louis has kidnapped a woman named MONICA. Ben struggles to save her but Louis shots her in the head. The next day, Ben’s father pays Ben a visit. After inspecting his apartment, Ben’s father beats Ben in a rage of impulsivity for not keeping his place in order. Nonchalantly after the beating, Ben’s father invites Ben out for Thai. Ben drops off his father at the airport and heads over to the arcade in hopes of bumping into CAROL, a gamer girl Ben has a crush on. They talk for a short while until Louis calls Ben and demands he come over to his house to see a present. At Louis’s house, Ben sees his father who never got on the plane. Louis, “doing Ben a favor”, puts Ben’s father in a concussion and emotionally forces Ben to kill his father. Louis gives Ben Percodan and bourbon, takes his catamaran far out in sea, and feeds the dead body to the sharks. The cops arrive at the grocery store and questions Ben. Ben plays dumb and admits to placing the ad in the paper because he meet a man at the arcade who admitted to the killings. Ben continues his lie by describing a fake person. When Louis finds out that Ben talked to the cops, he takes Mr. Jinx away from Ben, having control over all of Ben’s actions. Ben gets a new job at the arcade and Carol invites him out to the club after work. When Ben’s gets into a physical fight with another man over Carol, Ben is escorted out by DAVIS, a former military man who now works as a security guard. Davis and Ben bond outside of the club while smoking. Carol comes over to Ben’s apartment to spend the night but Ben is worried that if they have sex, he may go too far and kill her. He asks Carol if it is okay if they just sleep, and they sleep in a warm embrace. Louis starts to stalk Ben again, and notices the close relationship between Ben and Carol developing. Louis kidnaps Carol and gives Ben four hours to track down all the clues to save her. With the help of Davis, Ben uncovers all the clues that lead to an abandoned warehouse. Louis forces Ben to have sex with Carol but after their first try they both escape and head for the roof. Defranco shows up at the scene and Louis grabs Defranco, losing his balance. Louis falls off the roof and dies from the impact of the fall. Davis is found dead on the scene and Ben lies to the detective claiming Davis was the second murderer. Ben says good-bye to Carol and starts his life over again. Years later, Ben is no longer a killer, he is now a father, and expresses how his problems have both gone away and will at the same time never leave.

TURF WAR