Red Sands

In 2002, Jeff Keller is debriefed by an officer after miraculously surviving a brutal ambush. The debriefing confirms that his squad was slaughtered by al-Qaeda fighters, leaving Keller presumed dead. The officer notes that the gathered facts may mask a deeper and more troubling mystery.

Two weeks earlier, in September 2002, Keller and his squad are assigned to monitor a road used by militants to transfer supplies. They head to an isolated farmhouse where a family had been slaughtered days before. During the approach, an IED detonates near their truck, disorienting the convoy and sending Keller's team off on a recon sweep where they find a shrine to a Djinn; Wilcox believes it could be a powerful deity and Davies shatters the idol.

The platoon arrives at the isolated farmhouse to prepare the sting operation. As they settle in, a string of unsettling and unexplained events begins to unfold around them. The team remains wary, sensing invisible threats as the farm becomes the center of their ordeal.

The squad travels to a nearby desert village to announce their presence, only to find it abandoned. The only sign of inhabitants is a man lying dead and half-buried in the sand. The discovery deepens the sense that something malevolent is at work in this landscape.

A fierce sandstorm erupts, and a frightened Afghan woman runs in seeking shelter from the storm. Language problems prevent immediate communication, so the squad decides to shelter and guard her on the assumption she might be connected to what’s happening. Tension and paranoia begin to mount as trust frays.

Howston cannot reach any allies by radio, and when Wilcox tries, he hears a strange distress call claiming their sergeant has gone AWOL. Howston cannot hear the call, fueling paranoia about who, or what, may be manipulating their communications. The crew grows more isolated by the minute.

One night, the team misses a car on the road and notices the truck's ignition system has been destroyed. The sabotage feeds growing paranoia, suggesting they are being watched and possibly hunted. The sense of safety quickly dissolves into distrust.

The squad is haunted by gruesome images of people they have killed and Wilcox later goes missing. Tino Hull claims to have seen Wardell roaring, and the next morning they discover Wilcox's dead body with its eyes removed in a frozen scream. The inexplicable horror deepens as events spiral beyond their control.

Hull confronts Wardell after a tense altercation, and Davies ultimately fatally wounds Hull. Howston retaliates by killing Davies, ordering his body to be stashed outside. The group’s cohesion collapses as fear and anger overtake reason.

Howston goes missing, and so does the Afghan girl. Keller and Anderson attempt to contact the rest of their group by radio, and Keller realizes the voice he heard on the radio is actually Anderson's, the same voice he had heard days earlier. The line between friend and foe becomes dangerously blurred.

Keller and Anderson plan to break for the rest of their group, but the Afghan girl reappears inside the house. Anderson is confronted by the dead Wilcox, who reveals himself as a hideous creature. Before Anderson can react, Howston stalks in and shoots him, ending his struggle.

Keller corners Howston, who pursues him through the farmhouse. He kills Howston by slitting his throat and then encounters the Afghan girl—revealed to be the Djinn. Keller escapes by throwing a grenade into the ammo-filled farmhouse, triggering a devastating explosion.

At dawn, Keller is dragged beneath the sand and disappears. The scene loops back to the opening moment, and the commanding officer informs Keller he will be returned to the United States. Keller looks into the camera with black eyes, revealing that he is the Djinn inhabiting him.