Warning: spoilers below!
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Read the complete plot breakdown of Trapped (1989), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
In a somber opening montage, photographs reveal that a young boy has died from exposure to toxic waste spilled by NTX. The father, grieving beside his wife’s corpse, sets out for the Kupper-Dietz Building, NTX’s gleaming tower that houses offices and laboratories.
As the workday ends, two businesswomen, Mary Ann Marshall [Kathleen Quinlan] and Renni [Katy Boyer], are among the last to leave. They discover that all the exits are sealed and the telephones are dead, trapping them inside the glass-and-steel fortress. They hurry to the security room, only to find it abandoned and scarred by a struggle. Before they can call for help, the intruder assaults them—the dead boy’s father—and a desperate struggle ensues. Renni is killed, while Mary Ann manages to escape by leaping into an elevator that carries her up to one of the tower’s unfinished condominiums. There, she encounters John Doe [Bruce Abbott], a corporate spy who has been secretly living in the building to steal NTX secrets.
John goes to investigate Mary Ann’s claims of a killer on the loose, and she, after narrowly avoiding another encounter with the murderer, makes her way toward the penthouse to seek aid from Harold Manley, NTX’s head. Instead she finds Manley dead, with newspaper articles about NTX stabbed into his chest, a chilling clue that deepens the mystery.
Reuniting with John, who had stumbled upon the bodies of two murdered guards, the pair set out to find the building’s remaining watchman. They discover him just as he is fatally bludgeoned by the killer, and they barely escape the same fate. A subsequent confrontation leaves John with a broken arm, forcing the two to separate. Mary Ann retreats into the parking garage to hide.
The killer tracks her down, and a tense vehicular chase unfolds. In the chaos, the killer’s car begins leaking fuel. John, drawn to the garage by the noise, lights the spilled gas on fire, causing a spectacular explosion when the killer crashes into Mary Ann’s vehicle.
As dawn approaches and the building comes out of automatic lockdown at 6:00 a.m., John slips away. Mary Ann is treated by paramedics and questioned by the police, and she returns home only to be greeted by John, lingering in the doorway. The night’s horrors cast a long shadow over NTX’s gleaming tower, leaving questions about motive, safety, and who else might be hiding in the building’s shadows.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:23
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Track the full timeline of Trapped with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.