Atrocious

Cristian Quintanilla and his sister July run a web-show about paranormal investigations. They are invited to spend the Easter holidays at their family’s summer home to explore the Melinda legend, a girl who disappeared in 1940 and is said to haunt the woods. The plan is to document their search around the hedge maze with their cameras.

The siblings spend a great deal of time wandering the hedge maze with their video cameras, chasing the Melinda story. They film the surroundings and discuss the legend as they search. Their father adds context by revealing that their mother once knew the maze well in her youth.

They locate a well inside the maze and Cristian leans over, calling Melinda's name. July chastises him for being disrespectful, warning that such actions can invite trouble. The moment sharpens the tension between curiosity and safety.

The morning after the well incident, the family’s dog disappears, heightening the sense of danger in the house. Cristian and July eventually find the dog dead at the bottom of the well, tying the legend to a real tragedy. The event raises the stakes for their investigation.

That night, their mother enters their room, screaming that their younger brother José has vanished. The family heads toward the maze to search for him, but they quickly become separated. The mounting fear destabilizes their already fragile family dynamic.

Cristian searches the maze and finds July tied to the pillars of a small gazebo, bleeding profusely. He helps her back toward the house, where they discover José's burnt body in the fireplace. The revelation confirms a brutal turning point in the night’s events.

An axe blade bursts through the front door, prompting Cristian to flee upstairs to hide. Meanwhile, July had already taken shelter by hiding in a kitchen cupboard. The home erupts into violence as the attacker closes in on them.

The next morning, Cristian finds the kitchen cupboard July hid in empty and drenched in blood. He goes to the basement and discovers an old video recorder playing a tape of their mother being interviewed in a mental institution. The doctors discuss schizophrenic episodes and the possibility that such episodes can reoccur at night.

The tape reveals that Cristian and July had a baby sister named Michelle and that their mother suffered a psychotic break as a result of postpartum depression, which led to killing Michelle. The doctors note that such episodes may recur at night. A woman named Elvira is blamed for the episodes on the interview.

As Cristian watches the tape, their mother suddenly appears behind him and slaughters him with an axe. The haunting blend of past and present culminates in a brutal act inside the family home. The violence confirms the supernatural peril that has plagued the family.

Five days after the events, the police discover the bodies of the Quintanilla family and recover the video footage filmed by Cristian and July. The case is closed on the surface, but the recorded accounts leave a chilling legacy of the night’s horrors. The film ends with the authorities piecing together what happened.