The Well

In 1993, Lisa is sent by her father to a small Italian village to repair a damaged painting in Emma's collection. On her way to Emma's home, she meets American biologists Madison and Tracy, and their guide Toni, and Marcus, a local publican, becomes an ally. The assignment sets Lisa on a collision course with a hidden history buried in the artwork and town.

Emma insists on a two-week turnaround despite the painting normally taking longer to restore. Lisa begins work on the soot-covered 16th-century canvas, and as more of the image is revealed, demonic figures emerge. The revelation bleeds into her dreams, where a hairless ghostly entity stalks her.

Emma's teenage daughter Giulia warns that unveiling the entire painting could unleash events into the real world. She cryptically hints at a curse tied to the artwork and the town's history. Lisa wrestles with the warnings as she toils on the restoration.

Lisa's dreams grow more vivid as the painting's imagery thickens, with visions of a demon and a hairless ghostly entity. The images become more than art; they feel like omens of events to come. The boundary between sleep and waking narrows as she works.

That night, Madison, Tracy, and Toni awaken to find themselves imprisoned in cages around a well. A silent jailer slides a bucket into the well, which bleeds when lifted, signaling a grisly fate below. The group is abducted from their campsite, deepening the town's mystery.

Back in the dungeon, the jailer brutalizes the prisoners, murderingly discarding Toni and later Madison into the well where a deformed creature lies in wait. Rocco is also imprisoned nearby, awaiting his fate. The group’s suffering underscores a sinister pact surrounding the painting.

Rocco attempts a desperate escape but is killed by the creature that inhabits the dungeon’s depths. This leaves Tracy as the last remaining prisoner, heightening the tension inside Emma's fortress. The mystery surrounding the well and the creature grows darker still.

Now two weeks into the job, Lisa discovers she has until midnight to finish the painting. Emma's displeasure grows as Lisa's progress reveals more troubling imagery, and Giulia's warnings weigh on her conscience. The pressure mounts as the deadline approaches.

Giulia explains the painting depicts a 1493 ritual in which a boy is sacrificed to lure and capture the demon Guron, kept captive in the well for 500 years. Emma carried out the sacrifice with the help of the witch Dorka and The Man with the Dog to maintain their youth. The history underscores the grotesque pact sustaining the town's illusion of immortality.

Giulia leads Lisa down to the dungeon, and Lisa knocks the jailer unconscious just before he can throw Tracy into the well. Guron escapes the well through Rocco's tunnel, killing the jailer in the process. Outside, Marcus reveals his betrayal and forces Lisa back into the castle.

With ten minutes to spare, Lisa is forced to finish the painting by Emma, Dorka, The Man with the Dog, and Marcus, who is revealed to be in the painting itself. Giulia threatens to burn the work, assaulting her mother’s legacy as centuries of captivity loom. A crossbow bolt injures Lisa, complicating the final act.

Midnight strikes; Emma, Marcus, Dorka, and The Man with the Dog age rapidly and die as the curse lifts. Giulia dies serenely, accepting her fate. Lisa faces Guron directly, and a Latin inscription she reads from the painting causes the demon to wither to the ground.

Some time later, Lisa inherits the castle and its grounds, now a powerful figure in the region. The dungeon’s well has been repurposed into a medical laboratory where Guron is strapped to a gurney, kept alive to have his blood harvested for eternal youth.