The Slayer

Kay is a gifted abstract visual artist whose dreams have long haunted her. The nightmares drive her creativity but also threaten her sense of reality, pushing her toward fear and paranoia as she tries to protect herself and her husband. Her determination to stay awake and decipher the island's menace reveals a woman wrestling with trauma and its manifestations.

Kay's husband, a steady, supportive partner who becomes a target of the island's violence. His murder acts as a catalyst for Kay's descent into fear, exposing the danger lurking on the island and testing her ability to cope with loss in a terrifying setting.

Kay's brother who introduced her to David and stands as a protective presence in the group. His skepticism gives way to fear as the threat becomes personal, culminating in his violent end on the island.

Eric's wife and one of the vacationers who faces the escalating danger alongside Kay and the others. She becomes a victim of the island's violence, illustrating the broader reach of the nocturnal threat.

The island's pilot who drops the couples off and later appears to be connected to the danger on the island. His attempt to re-enter the house and Kay's eventual confrontation with him heighten the sense that the threat may come from within the group or from someone who seems familiar.

In a Christmas flashback, Kay's father gives her a black kitten, a memory that becomes a symbolic trigger for Kay's fears and the nightmare's connection to real events. His memory anchors the trauma in familial history.

Kay's mother is part of the family history that shapes Kay's psyche. Through memories and the kitten motif, she contributes to the fear and emotional backdrop that drives Kay's actions on the island.

A grotesque, skeletal creature that Kay believes emerges from her nightmares into reality. It embodies the film's horror as a malevolent force preying on Kay's circle and deepening the dream-vs-reality conflict.

A vision of Kay as a child, representing the origin of her fears. This memory anchors the film's exploration of inherited trauma and how the past continues to haunt the present.