On the back streets of Chicago, two would-be car thieves spot a jet-black fourth-generation Chevrolet Nova, only to second-guess themselves and turn back to find a red sports car, a Chevrolet Corvette Z06. They climb inside, but the ignition, the door handles, and every escape route vanish, the windows seal black, and their screams fade into silence. As they speed away toward the main street, the black car is mysteriously wrecked by a speeding vehicle, the other car leaving the scene unscathed and the black car abandoned to be impounded at a police garage. There, the unmoving vehicle suddenly comes to life, snapping back together and ripping Hector into an elevator shaft with a brutal, unmanned force.
Ray [Oded Fehr], the garage owner, cannot find Hector and rounds up his small crew—Gordy [Adrien Dorval], a seasoned mechanic with a hearing aid; Al [Josh Strait], another mechanic; and Bobby [Ryan Kennedy], a student whose aunt Tilda got him the job—while Tilda [Shannon Beckner], Ray’s secretary, arrives and is met with Ray’s sharp rebuke of Bobby for studying on the job. She asks about a misplaced necklace and Maria [Melanie Papalia], Ray’s secretary, admits she doesn’t know. Tilda is sent down to help locate Hector and stumbles upon the black car, and then the others discover it too, noting how it feels strange to the touch, almost non-metallic, and how its engine makes a hiss that isn’t quite right. After they separate, Al encounters a 1968 Lincoln Continental and triggers a terrifying moment as the car awakens, reaching out with a tentacle-like appendage to grab him and pull him inside. Tilda can’t free him, and the car escapes. At first Ray and the others doubt the episode was real, but when the car returns, the hood bursts open to reveal a giant snake’s head, attempting to strike at Maria, who is saved at the last moment by Tilda. The attempt leaves Gordy in harm’s way, and he is run down by the car, which also hits an electrical box, plunging the garage into emergency power.
With the lights waning, the group hunts for Ray’s keys to the exit, only to discover every outside access welded shut to deter intruders. Ray proposes a manhunt to kill the car, and Tilda notices evidence that it is still bleeding a strange metallic substance, signaling it’s not entirely dead from its earlier crash. They craft a Burmese tiger trap—spikes hidden in the elevator shaft and a wide tarp as a lure—and prepare for a dramatic showdown. As the car inches closer, the alarms blare and the team moves to spring the trap. Tilda acts as bait to draw the car into the pit, but it corners her and chases her down. Maria, in a fatal miscalculation, hurls a Molotov cocktail that ricochets and accidentally incinerates her, sending her plummeting into the pit. Stricken, the surviving trio presses on; Bobby sneaks into the police SUV they’ve been using, only to realize it’s a trap set by the car. Tilda makes a desperate attempt to free Bobby, but the vehicle destroys him and rolls away.
Ray and Tilda pursue the car, nearly outsmarted when it doubles back toward them, but they manage to corral it into the trap. A final push sends the car plummeting into the pit, and a heavy vehicle drops from above, crushing it and ending the immediate threat.
With the danger contained, Ray reveals he had the exit keys all along and opens the garage for Tilda to leave. Her boyfriend, John Reardon as David, appears to inspect his destroyed Trans Am, and she walks away as Ray phones a News station to recount the strange events. Yet a chilling glance reveals five more cars like the one they defeated heading toward the garage, and though Tilda seems numb to the carnage, Ray senses he is suddenly surrounded by the approaching, headlight-lit threats, his fate left uncertain.
