Dead Before Dawn

Casper Galloway, a naturally cautious boy, starts his day by taking care of his grandfather Horus's shop during an award ceremony. His father had died in an accident at the same shop, leading Casper to develop fears about danger. Horus warns Casper about a cursed urn containing a malevolent spirit, emphasizing that no one should come near it.

Charlotte visits the shop, and Casper attempts to show off by giving her a free purchase, hoping to impress her. Their friends arrive and dismiss Casper's warnings about the urn's danger, teasing him and making light of the situation. Casper accidentally drops the urn, which heightens the tension around the curse.

The friends jokingly invent a curse that anyone who makes eye contact after 10 pm will kill themselves and become a zombie ('zemon') possessed by the spirit inside the urn. They further declare that a French kiss will turn a zemon into their slave, and they give themselves until morning to undo the curse, unaware of its potential reality.

As the clock strikes 10 pm, Casper dismisses the curse, makes eye contact with his mother, and claims something happened at the shop. His mother worries but Casper's reassurance makes her relax, not realizing the curse might actually take effect.

At a high school football game, players and cheerleaders begin killing themselves in strange ways, confirming Casper's fears. Casper finds his mother has become a zemon after a suicide attempt involving a toaster in the bathtub, and he narrowly escapes her after she is hit by a car, showcasing the curse's spreading effect.

Casper bumps into his friend Becky, who now believes in the curse after her boyfriend turned into a zemon. She confirms that the curse seems to be real and they realize the threat is escalating quickly. Together, they rush to find the others still at the game.

Casper and Becky arrive to find their friends’ bodies on the field, and the zemons waking up and pursuing them through the area. The group escapes from Seth’s house after a chase, but the danger persists as the curse continues to spread among their friends.

The group dives into the Occult Barn's books, attempting to find a way to break the curse. Horus returns but is overwhelmed by guilt and succumbs to the curse, injuring himself with a trophy while trying to instruct the others. The team gathers necessary items to reseal the spirit but faces attacks from zemons along the way.

Casper and Charlotte face the deadly task of restoring the spirit by collecting various items, including ashes, a human skull, a heart, an urn, and a watch. Casper sacrifices himself with a grenade, but instead of dying, time rewinds to before the urn was broken, preventing the curse from fully taking hold again.

Casper and Charlotte graduate from school, and eager to start anew, they visit Horus and express their wish to work at the Occult Barn. Horus, excited and unaware of the ongoing danger, plans his first vacation, hinting at a trip to Hawaii, leaving the future uncertain.

As Casper and Charlotte celebrate, they unintentionally knock over the urn containing the malevolent spirit. Horrified by their mistake, they realize that they may have unwittingly released the curse again, setting the stage for potential future chaos and danger.