Stash House 2012

The opening scene grips you with a stark moment inside a church: a man steps into the confessional, speaks of a donation, and before the father can respond, he shoots himself. This shocking entrance sets a tense tone that threads through the rest of the story. In the aftermath, we shift to a quieter, domestic drama that soon collides with violence when danger intrudes on a seemingly ordinary home.

Amy Nash and her husband David Nash are celebrating Amy’s birthday as David buys her a house, a gift that she initially seems uneasy about, though she ultimately accepts it with a practiced, hopeful smile. David, eager to reassure his wife, reveals a high-tech security system with cameras that survey every angle of their new space, promising safety even as it foreshadows the invasive surveillance that will soon define their night. The couple’s happiness is punctured by a casual visit from Amy’s friend, Trish, who stops by to offer congratulations, drop off a gift, and hurry out for a date, leaving behind a fleeting sense of warmth before the danger closes in.

A routine check-in from a visiting officer, Ray, greets the neighbors and briefly eases tensions, but it also marks the first brush with the unsettling undercurrents of the new home. The couple’s celebration is interrupted by odd sounds— noises from a stove in a room that shouldn’t exist, a memory of rats, a momentary chill that Amy tries to brush off as paranoia. As they share a moment of intimacy in their bedroom, Amy scratches the wall and discovers the wall is loose. David Nash investigates and uncovers a hidden stash of heroin concealed behind the plaster, an ominous secret that shatters their sense of safety and pushes them toward a desperate decision to leave.

When they reveal the discovery to Ray, the intruder’s true colors come into sharper focus. He shrugs off their alarm, then boasts of a bet—he had money riding on whether they’d find the cache—and brandishes a gun. A violent struggle erupts as David floors Ray’s attempt to seize control, and the couple races for safety as the house becomes their prison. Ray bursts in through the back door, and a sequence of brutal blows and gunfire follows. A crucial moment occurs when Amy unintentionally triggers a house-wide lockdown by activating a switch, cutting off escape routes and forcing them to shelter together as bullets and threats encroach from every direction.

Outside, Andy Spector arrives as Ray’s partner-in-crime, and the two men debate a practical outcome: for now, keeping the couple alive, and extracting some leverage from the standoff. The hidden threat of the heroin stash is acknowledged, and the criminals decide to discard the drug cache rather than let it poison their plans. The house itself becomes a character—made of metal, with bulletproof windows and reinforced walls—designed to repel intruders and to test the nerves of those inside. A procedural cat-and-mouse game begins as the criminals lay booby traps and circle the house, awaiting a moment of vulnerability.

Amy makes a courageous bid for freedom, drawing attention away from David as she moves to create an opening. David distracts their pursuers in the front while she makes a run for the back, but a misstep—tripping over a rope laid by Spector—sends him crashing into a pool and momentarily shatters the couple’s hope. Ray rushes toward David, but Amy intervenes, firing while Ray presses his assault. David retreats into the interior as Amy fights to hold the line, using whatever resources she can find—an animal spray to disorient Spector, a quick-fire instinct, and a determined will to survive.

The tension intensifies as the couple discovers a hidden basement behind a stove in their room, revealing an unconscious man and a secret that ties the present danger to past crimes. Spector and Ray uncover a tunnel that runs beneath the house, a hidden passageway that becomes the route for a deadly crossfire. Spector tries to manipulate the couple, hinting that David knew the previous owner was a drug lord who committed suicide in a church, a revelation that tightens the emotional grip of the siege. The couple fights back, restraining Ray and forcing the intruders to contend with their own fear and aggression.

The siege escalates when a knock comes at the door from a police officer, and the tension between the intruders and the authorities escalates into a deadly escalation. David, seizing a moment of misdirection, aims a shotgun at Spector, creating a tense confrontation that invites the police to intervene. The officer is killed in the crossfire, and Ray moves to finish David, only to be outmaneuvered by Spector’s ruthless efficiency.

Trish re-enters the scene only to be cut down seconds later, a cruel reminder of how quickly hope can vanish in a house built for peril. Spector forces David to reveal the hidden room, but the room is empty. Amy shoots Spector with the shotgun, and the trio scurries to rearm their defenses while the police attempt to regain control. The house’s locking mechanisms fail, and Spector breaks through with explosive force, turning the old man’s presence into a live threat.

In a desperate gambit, Spector pretends to impersonate Amy’s father to sow confusion, hoping to buy time and escape through the tunnel. The police manage to jam the tunnel’s access, and a tense pursuit ensues. David uses the moment to seize control, evading capture and attempting to reach Amy while the officers attempt to corral Spector. The chief of police makes a fragile attempt at conversation with Amy, but Spector’s violence and calculated moves quickly derail any attempt at peaceful resolution, culminating in a brutal, fatal confrontation.

As the chaos erupts, the old man—unconscious earlier—becomes a collateral victim in a brutal exchange that closes in on the remaining couple. Amy regains her footing, gravely wounded, and attacks Spector with renewed ferocity. In a final, violent clash, the police arrive in force and end Spector’s threat, killing him at last. The last moments return to the couple’s humanity: Amy tends to David, and the doomed villain’s final boast—“next time, she should pick the house”—echoes as the ambulance arrives and their ordeal ends in the pale, clinical glow of emergency lights.

The film leaves Amy Nash and David Nash battered but alive, the house a grim monument to fear and resilience. The brutality of the siege is tempered by moments of tenderness and love, a stark reminder that even within a fortress of steel and glass, human connection can be the strongest shield against the darkest impulses.