Ghostland

A successful horror fiction author living in Chicago, Beth is haunted by the past and grapples with blurred lines between memory and reality. Her adult life collapses into a mid-narrative crisis as she confronts the truth about what happened in Clarisse’s house. She embodies resilience, determination, and the cost of surviving trauma.

Beth’s sister, who endures the original captivity and develops delusions as a result of the trauma. She remains trapped in fear while also being a catalyst for Beth’s rise to face the family’s past. Her suffering drives the narrative’s emotional core.

The mother who protected her daughters by confronting the intruders, ultimately killing both intruders during the initial break-in. Her death becomes a linchpin for the sisters’ memories and Beth’s later fixation as a writer.

One of the intruders who tortures the sisters in Clarisse’s house, embodying predation and manipulation. Her violence is central to the trauma and to the film’s final twist.

The same antagonist heard or described in the aftermath; in some portrayals, the voice adds a chilling layer to the threat remaining after the physical attack.

The large, mentally impaired intruder whose brutality frames the assault on the house, intensifying the danger Beth and Vera face.

Beth’s idol encountered in a dream sequence; he represents an elated fictional escape and inspiration for her writing.

Beth’s husband in Chicago, providing a social and domestic counterpoint to the trauma’s lingering impact. He embodies a supportive yet ordinary life that contrasts with Beth’s past.

Beth and her husband’s young son in Chicago, grounding Beth in family life and highlighting what she fights to protect from the trauma’s reach.