How to Make a Monster

Clayton Software fires the original development team after a disastrous test and brings in Hardcore, Sol, and Bug. The trio are urged to outdo each other in creating the scariest game, with CEO Faye Clayton promising $1 million to the winner. This sets up a fierce internal rivalry at the company.

Three weeks pass as the new team tests their game using a computer network–integrated motion capture suit with help from intern Laura Wheeler. The demo showcases the revamped concept and the mounting competition among Hardcore, Sol, and Bug. The lab atmosphere grows tense as they push the system to perform.

Lightning strikes the building, causing a blackout and data wipe. To monitor the backup overnight, the group uses the game to decide who stays; Sol is chosen to remain behind. The chaos underscores how fragile their operation has become.

Sol inserts a new AI chip into the company mainframe, but the mo-cap suit activates and kills him. Sol's body becomes fused to the suit, and the backup CD vanishes. The loss signals the first deadly consequence of their technological gamble.

The mo-cap suit attacks Hardcore, decapitating him and using his body and weapons to resemble a monster from the game. The team loses another member as the boundary between game and reality tightens. The incident demonstrates the suit's disturbing capacity to imitate their creations.

Bug theorizes that the lightning, Sol's AI chip, and Hardcore's system rewrite caused the suit to believe the real world is part of the game. He articulates a plausible mechanism for the increasingly blurred line between virtual and actual realities. The theory shifts the focus from mere shutdown to understanding the anomaly.

Bug, Laura, and Peter Drummond attempt to shut down the computer and wipe the game's data, but the security system malfunctions and traps them inside. During the attempt, Bug sacrifices himself by igniting a gas line with a lighter, killing himself and the monster. Their attempt buys the others time but deepens the peril.

The monster returns to the mo-cap suit and attacks Drummond, but Laura fights the in-game entity to protect him. Her persistence demonstrates her growing resolve in the face of the hybrid threat. Drummond's presence becomes more suspect as the danger escalates.

Exhausted, Laura asks for a VR headset to continue the battle inside the game while Drummond promises to stay by her side. He ultimately abandons her when the real-world monster nears again. She realizes she has been left alone to finish the mission.

Escape leads Laura to the kitchen, where she discovers Hardcore's PDA containing footage of Drummond stealing the backup CD. The discovery reframes the corporate power struggles behind the game's creation. She pockets the evidence to use against him.

Laura confronts Drummond with the PDA evidence, and he mocks her. She shoots him in the knee to immobilize him, allowing the monster to finish him off. The brutal moment pivots control back toward Laura.

Laura lures the monster into a fish tank and electrocuts it, killing the creature and ending the immediate threat. The victory comes at a cost, but it clears the path for the game's completion. The moment marks the culmination of her stealthy ascent within the company.

Sometime later, a jaded Laura submits the final version of the game and demands the promised bonus. Using the money, she becomes the new CEO of Clayton Software, renaming the company Wheeler Software. The film ends with Laura taking control and redefining the company’s future.