Not all monsters belong to the movies… In the fall of 2008, John Carver’s older brother, Owen, goes missing. He is found dead a few days later, his body torn apart by the local wildlife. Despite reports of strange noises heard at the time of Owen’s disappearance, the police rule the tragedy as “a death by misadventure.” Fast forward to the summer of 2009. To cope with his brother’s passing, John dives into the art of filmmaking. Armed with a camcorder and his two closest friends, Ali and Becca, he begins work on a horror movie with the hopes of winning the local Harvest Festival Short Film Contest and a prize of a thousand dollars. The work proves difficult but rewarding. Until, while gathering footage one night, the trio crosses paths with something inhuman. And a new question now burns in John’s mind: Is this the creature responsible for his brother’s death? He doesn’t know for certain, but he won’t stop until he finds out the truth. Even if it kills him.

The past can be haunting… In 2009, John Carver faced and defeated the creature that had taken his older brother's life. Yet, his path to recovery hasn’t been easy. Now in his twenties, living alone in Pennsylvania, John navigates a maze of dead-end, low-paying jobs to scrape by, until he stumbles upon Reels, a local movie rental store on the brink of collapse. Here, he discovers a sense of belonging, forming unexpected friendships. But when a series of strange incidents unearth not only John’s history with the supernatural but also threaten his newfound happiness, he is reminded of an unsettling monsters are real…and they’re not our friends.