The Open House 2023

A suburban father is killed after being hit by a car, and the sudden loss casts a heavy shadow over those left behind. In the wake of tragedy, Naomi, who is unemployed and financially struggling to support herself and her teenage son Logan, agrees to move into her sister’s secluded mountain chalet until the property can be sold. The decision, born out of necessity, lands them in a home that looks like a peaceful retreat but quickly reveals itself to be a place thick with unease and unanswered questions.

From the first days in the new residence, Naomi and Logan encounter a patchwork of oddities that gnaw at their sense of security. Their elderly neighbor, Martha, behaves in ways that feel unpredictable and unsettling, and a friendly store clerk named Chris seems to appear in their lives just enough to offer a glimmer of normalcy. The house carries a quiet, oppressive stillness that makes every creak, every whisper of wind, feel amplified and almost personal.

On Sundays, during open-house periods, Naomi and Logan must vacate the chalet for breakfast and return only after 5 p.m. The structure of the routine adds a tethered tension to the plot, as the clock becomes a constant reminder that they are out of step with ordinary rhythms. What begins as a handful of minor disturbances soon escalates into a pattern of strange happenings: objects shift or vanish, the telephone rings with no one speaking on the other end, and the hot water tank’s pilot repeatedly shuts off, leaving the house shrouded in a chilly, uncertain quiet. Odd noises and a sense of being watched permeate the rooms.

One night, Logan notices a car idling in the driveway. When he searches outside, he discovers Martha in the yard, acting in a way that feels erratic and unsettling. Her later remarks hint at a living husband, even though she had previously claimed her husband was dead. The tension thickens as Naomi and Logan try to interpret these peculiars without giving in to fear, but their attempts to rationalize the events only fuel a sense that someone might be toying with them or hiding something far more troubling.

A repairman is brought in to assess the faulty hot water tank, a detail that becomes a turning point in the mystery surrounding Martha. He confirms that Martha’s husband did indeed die and reveals that Martha is suffering from Alzheimer’s, a diagnosis that helps explain some of her confused behavior, even as it complicates Naomi’s feelings about the surrounding dangers. Naomi’s heartbreak deepens when she discovers a crumpled family photo in the trash, a small, painful reminder of what has been lost. The repairman also finds Logan’s missing phone near the water heater, which Naomi interprets as proof that Logan has been tampering with things or destroying evidence. A heated argument ensues between them, and Logan denies any deliberate wrongdoing. The tension in the chalet intensifies as Naomi and Logan confront the possibility that someone is intruding on their lives.

That night, the house seems to come alive with an unseen presence. The sense of being watched grows stronger, and Naomi and Logan are drawn deeper into a web of secrets they do not fully understand. At some point, a break-in occurs: a candlelit dinner is set out on the table, and yet the police find nothing missing and no obvious sign of a break-in. The couple is left with more questions than answers, but they are also forced to acknowledge a grim reality: they cannot afford a hotel or to abandon the home, so they must endure the unknown as best as they can.

When Naomi reaches out to Chris, he agrees to spend the night on the couch. The vulnerability of that choice becomes starkly terrifying when, in the middle of the night, Chris disappears. Logan eventually discovers him in his car with his throat slashed. The intruder’s presence then shifts its focus to Naomi, who discovers photographs of her and Logan sleeping in their beds—a chilling reveal that makes the danger feel personal and intimate. Naomi is bound and tortured, and Logan is left to confront a nightmare he cannot fully comprehend.

The terror escalates as Logan awakes to find that all phones have had their SIM cards removed and snapped, rendering them useless just as he tries to reach help. He rushes to Naomi, but in a moment of misjudgment and desperation, he mistakes his mother for the intruder and stabs her. Naomi’s strength and calm under extreme duress shine through as she tells him to run before collapsing. The intruder then overpowers Logan, removes his contact lenses, and leaves him blinded in the harsh winter night.

Logan escapes into the woods, fighting for survival against the cold and isolation. He struggles through the freezing night, eventually dragging himself to a stream where the thin line between life and death is tested by hypothermia. The intruder reveals himself and closes in as Logan fights to breathe and to see. With a brutal final moment, the attacker grabs Logan as he screams, and strangles him by the stream. The scene closes with the intruder driving away, moving on toward the next open house, leaving Naomi and Logan’s fate hanging in the winter air and the chalet’s quiet, unsettling hush.