Ticking Clock

Keech murders a woman and cuts her open, then calmly hushes the crying baby in her arms. The brutal act establishes a chilling tone and signals the killer's detachment as the mystery begins to unfold.

Louis, an investigative reporter, endures a rocky marriage to Gina Hicks while juggling a girlfriend, Felecia, and a career slipping away. The pile-up of personal and professional strain creates a frazzled backdrop for the coming crisis.

Felicia informs Louis that their relationship is over. The breakup destabilizes Louis further and aligns with the killer's plan to manipulate events.

Keech murders Felicia in her own home, triggering Louis's frantic scramble and propelling the investigation into a dangerous direction. The killer's presence becomes more personal and imminent as the clues begin to surface.

During the struggle, Keech drops a book—the journal that reveals his pattern and the upcoming murders. The discovery gives Louis a tangible lead, even as it deepens the mystery.

Louis tries to warn the police, but his story only hardens suspicion against him. He becomes a suspect in a case he’s trying to solve, complicating his investigation.

Louis pursues a lead about a scheduled murder of a schoolteacher named Vicki. He asks Vicki out, while Keech stalks her in a bar, exposing a history of abuse she once reported.

Keech murders Vicki after she leaves the restroom, with Louis arriving too late to prevent it. The murder confirms Keech's pattern and makes Louis's theory harder to prove.

Louis sends the evidence—torn coat fragment and a bloody fingerprint on a newspaper clipping—to a crime lab. The lab identifies blood from an 11-year-old orphan and notes heat-reactive fabric in Keech's coat.

Polly, director of a boys' home, introduces Louis to James, a troubled boy who dreams of time travel. James shows Louis a box filled with small dead animals, symbolizing the cycle Keech is trying to break.

Louis deduces Polly is Keech's next target. Keech's plan becomes clearer: kill Polly, frame Louis, and use James's intervention to cast Louis as a hero.

James confronts Keech and asks if Keech is his father. Keech claims to be James's future self, revealing a chilling link between them and unsettling both men.

Keech drops a futuristic knife. James grabs it and slashes Keech's leg. Keech pushes James off the roof and shoots Louis in the chest as the confrontation spirals toward tragedy.

Keech vanishes after the confrontation as James dies from the fall. Louis survives, wounded, and carries a haunting truth about the case and its victims.

In the finale, James never becomes Keech due to his early death, seemingly ending the threat. Yet the film closes by showing each victim alive in alternate loops, with James seen back with his mother, suggesting the past wounds may never be erased.