The Name of the Game Is Kill

A Hungarian drifter, Symcha Lipa, rests along a dusty rural road in the southwest. Mickey Terry stops and offers him a ride to her home. He ends up at the Terry house, where a tense dynamic among the sisters and their mother begins to unfold.

Mickey introduces Lipa to the Terry household, including Diz and Nan. The sisters exchange pointed remarks that hint at rough motives and a restless household. The warning sense around the family lingers.

The next morning, Lipa leaves the Terry home and is run down by a pursuing car. He spends three days in the hospital recovering with no lasting injuries. A sheriff's warning surrounds him as he contemplates what he has entered into.

The investigating sheriff cautions Lipa about the family, noting odd disappearances and rumors surrounding Julio Lamberto who spent time with the sisters. The warning lingers as Lipa weighs a return. This heightens the sense of danger around the Terry women.

Against the warning, Lipa returns to the Terry home and finds only Diz there. They reminisce about the past, including Diz's memory of her mother killing her abusive father. Diz's agitation builds as she tries to reach out to him.

Lipa asks to work for the family in exchange for a place to stay, and the mother agrees. He meets Mickey again and their bond deepens as they discuss the future.

Mickey confesses she has fallen in love with Lipa, while he admits he carries heartbreak from the Hungarian Revolution. They decide to start a new life together in San Francisco, despite the family complexities.

The family hosts a party as Halloween approaches and Nan’s birthday nears. Nan and Diz use the occasion to test Lipa and Mickey, turning the gathering into a tense game that unsettles the couple.

Later that night, Nan lures Lipa to a back room and knocks him unconscious with a statue. Nan and Diz drag him toward a furnace, preparing to throw his body in.

Mickey and the mother arrive just in time to prevent the murder. Lipa regains consciousness as a struggle ensues, shifting the balance of danger back toward the family.

In the heat of the confrontation, Nan pulls off the wig from the supposed mother, revealing that the 'mother' is actually their father in disguise. The shock disrupts everyone as the true identity reshapes the family’s dynamics.

Diz admits she urged Nan to kill Lipa to prevent the family from splitting, and claims she once hated their mother and killed her years ago. Nan confesses to having killed Julio Lamberto. The sisters’ dramatic admissions crystallize the family’s dark history.

The true father consoles Diz and Nan and urges them to move forward, while directing Mickey to depart with Lipa to begin a new life in San Francisco. The household remains tense, but a path outward is laid for the couple.

Mickey and Lipa drive off toward San Francisco, guided by the father's instruction. On the highway, Lipa asks what happened to her mother, and the camera lingers on Mickey's enigmatic smile, leaving the answer unresolved.