The Maddening

After a fierce argument about David’s constant business trips, Cassie decides to take their five-year-old daughter Samantha to stay with her sister Joanne for a few days. They part on a tense note, unsure of their relationship or future. This quarrel sets the crisis in motion.

While driving, the car breaks down and they stop at a seedy gas station. Roy Scudder tends to them, but secretly rigs the vehicle to fail further down the road. He then offers to tow them back to his house, initiating a dangerous detour.

Roy drives them to his home, where Cassie meets Georgina, a mentally unstable woman haunted by the death of her baby. Samantha is forced to be a 'playmate' for Jill, Roy and Georgina’s daughter. The atmosphere grows increasingly unstable as Cassie senses danger.

Georgina and Jill conflate Cassie with Marlena, Georgina's supposed sister, and lead her to the wrong room where she’s locked in. She realizes she’s effectively imprisoned and begins making plans to escape. The strain of captivity tightens the suspense.

Back home, Joanne panics and contacts the police, convinced David had something to do with the disappearances. A detective and a nosy neighbor inflate the suspicion that David is a killer. The search for Cassie and Samantha intensifies as time runs out.

David begins a desperate search, first at Joanne’s home and then toward the Scudders' property after learning of the shortcut. He faces hostile speculation from others and a growing sense that the case could collapse. The stakes rise as he gets closer to the truth.

In the room without a toilet, Cassie hides a wrench left by Roy and uses it later to try to pry the door open. She cleverly tucks the wrench in the toilet bowl to buy time and avoid discovery. This marks her first concrete attempt to break free from confinement.

Georgina bathes Cassie and, assuming Cassie is Marlena, alters her appearance by cutting her hair. Cassie wrests for control with a pair of scissors but Georgina overpowers her and completes the transformation. The scene underscores the brutal delusions at the heart of the household.

Samantha is released by Jill, who leads her down a rope while pretending to discipline. Samantha tries to escape into the woods but Jill drags her back toward danger. The moment heightens the tension as the child’s life hangs in the balance.

Roy drugs Cassie with milk, then rapes her and chains her to the bed. He is further emboldened by a hallucination of his dead father urging him on. The assault underscores the brutality of the captives' ordeal.

David locates the Scudder home and confronts Roy in the garage. Roy claims he hasn’t seen Cassie or Samantha and fights him, ultimately knocking him into a dry water well. The attack marks a turning point as David’s rescue plan begins taking shape.

Cassie briefly escapes the room but tumbles down the stairs and is knocked unconscious. Samantha escapes from her confinement and heads into the woods with a plan to reach safety. David hides underwater in the swamps and then makes a move to rescue Cassie, as night drifts toward dawn.

An investigating officer follows leads to the Scudder home and the gas station, where Roy murders him by slitting his throat. The loss of the officer eliminates a key investigator and intensifies the danger for the Osbornes. The case edges closer to a deadly close.

In a climactic confrontation, Roy is killed by Cassie after a brutal struggle; Georgina dies during the sequence. The Osborne family is finally reunited with Samantha, while Jill sits by the well and drops Samantha’s doll, closing the ordeal on a somber note.