The Greenskeeper 2002

Allen Anderson, a young, struggling screenwriter, finds himself under pressure from his flashy girlfriend Mary Jane who dreams of a massive inheritance, a motive that makes their relationship feel transactional and strained. On his 25th birthday, he is haunted by visions of a figure engulfed in flames, a chilling motif that threads through the day as friends-and-family celebrate at the family Golf Club. To keep the party rolling, the group urges Allen to keep the club open for a proper celebration, a plan that sets the stage for the night’s unraveling.

Allen invites Elena Rodriguez, the rookie employee he secretly appreciates, hoping her presence might sweeten the occasion. The mood shifts quickly when a patron is gruesomely murdered and Allen’s uncle, Bruce Taylor playing Uncle John, sternly orders a corrupt officer to keep quiet about it. As the night snowballs into chaos, the partygoers drift into heavy drug use and reckless drinking, and a lone guest in the pool with his eyes covered becomes the target of a killer cloaked in a keeper uniform—the elusive Greenskeeper, a figure who moves through the shadows with fatal precision.

With escalating dread, more partygoers die, leaving Elena and Allen as the last obvious targets. Elena escapes the Greenskeeper’s cottage in the woods and stumbles into Allen, who knocks the attacker down with a shovel. The killer—the Greenskeeper—murmurs Allen’s name, and at that moment Uncle John bursts onto the scene and shoots him in the chest, exposing a shocking truth. Elena notices bite marks on Allen’s wrist, signaling that the killer is closer to home than anyone realized.

What follows is a revelation that shifts the entire story: the real Greenskeeper is actually Allen’s father, a man long thought dead after a mysterious explosion. The truth points to a meticulously laid plan to divert attention from Allen’s father, who supposedly stands to become the next heir to the golf club. In the ensuing confrontation, Allen’s father is wounded, and Uncle John is killed in a brutal display—decapitated by Otis, Allen’s longtime mentor, wielding a lawn mower’s propeller blade. Otis survives the encounter, and as the tension peaks, Allen’s father, in his final moments, apologizes to his son and passes away in Elena’s arms.

In the quiet aftermath, Elena and Allen share a heartfelt embrace, and with Otis by their side, they walk away from the night’s horrors as dawn approaches.