The Well 1992

In 1993, a renowned art restorer’s daughter named Lisa is sent to a quiet Italian village to repair a damaged 16th‑century painting that belongs to a wealthy aristocrat, Emma. On the road to Emma’s estate in Sambuci, Lisa crosses paths with an American trio—biologists Madison and Tracy, guided by a local named Toni—before the group parts ways and Lisa settles into her work. The assignment is urgent: Emma insists the restoration be finished within two weeks, a tight deadline set by a contract with Lisa’s father. As Lisa begins the painstaking process, the soot and ash gradually peel away, revealing haunting, otherworldly imagery—demonic figures and a pale, hairless entity that begins to haunt Lisa’s dreams. The more she uncovers, the more intense and disturbing her nocturnal visions become, until Emma’s warnings and the cryptic cautions from Emma’s daughter Giulia blur the lines between the painting and the world outside.

Meanwhile, the three companions Madison, Tracy, and Toni awaken to find themselves imprisoned in crude cages around a deep well, with a silent, brutal jailer and a monstrous resident at its bottom. A bucket is lowered into the well, filled with blood, and then hauled back up—a signal that violence and sacrifice accompany the prison’s purpose. The jailer brutally murders Toni, followed soon after by Madison, hurling their bodies down the shaft to feed a grotesque creature living in the depths. Lisa’s dreams grow more vivid and personal: she envisions her father cutting his own throat, and she hears pleas for help from Madison, Tracy, and Toni. Marcus, the town publican, reassures her that Sambuci is safe and urges her to continue the painting so they can share more time together, even as Emma makes it clear she will regret any delay. In the dungeon, the doomed prisoners—Rocco among them—face a grim fate as the creature at the bottom of the well claims more victims.

Two weeks into the job, the countdown to midnight begins. Lisa persists in revealing the painting’s chilling scenes, even as Giulia warns that completing the image will trap Lisa in the same fate as those before her. Giulia explains the painting depicts an ancient incident from 1493, when a boy was sacrificed to lure and bind a cruel demon named Guron, whose blood supposedly grants renewed youth. Emma is revealed to have carried out the sacrifice in collusion with a ghostly figure—the hairless Dorka—and “The Man with the Dog.” For five centuries, they have kept Guron in the well and used his blood, trading human flesh in return for perpetual youth. The full truth is confirmed when Giulia shows Lisa the way to the dungeon, where Tracy’s life could have been saved if Lisa acts differently.

With ten minutes to spare before midnight, Lisa confronts Emma, Dorka, The Man with the Dog, and Marcus—the latter of whom is exposed as a figure in the painting itself. Giulia drenches the room with lighter fluid, accusing her mother of trapping her in a perpetual child’s form across centuries. In the ensuing struggle, Lisa is wounded by a crossbow as Emma and Marcus close in. When the clock strikes midnight, the curse accelerates: Emma, Marcus, Dorka, and The Man with the Dog age rapidly and perish, breaking the malevolent cycle. Giulia accepts her fate and dies peacefully, while Lisa, pursued by the demon Guron, finally recites a Latin inscription from the painting that causes the demon to collapse.

In the aftermath, Lisa inherits the castle and its grounds, emerging as a powerful new owner. The dungeon beneath the well is repurposed into a medical laboratory where Guron is kept alive on a gurney to have his blood harvested—an eerie continuation of the centuries-long pact that drains youth from others. The story closes on this unsettling note, revealing a town and a legacy built on secrets, sacrifice, and a cursed art restoration whose consequences reverberate far beyond the studio.