It doesn’t happen too often that I have a dream that I remember upon waking, but this one was unusual in several respects. I had the POV of someone watching a movie, and there was some serious cinematography at work. In my waking life, there would have been no way I could have come up with all of the cuts and angles, different perspectives, and background scene details. Whoever crafted my dream was a film savant. Not only was the camera work excellent, but the plot was detailed and tricky; as the “viewer,” I had no idea what plot twist was coming next. I would have thought that this was a repeat of something I had watched before, but that doesn’t seem likely, as the film’s genre was one that I’m not really into: psychological thriller.

I’m losing details as I type, but I’ll try to relay what I remember. It was set in a home. The furniture and decorations were modern and elegant, but not overtly expensive. There were many people in attendance for some kind of benefit. There was a married couple, of which the husband will turn out to be the protagonist. We see both of them mingling with the crowd and speaking with their guests.

The scene cuts away to see a few other guests doing some suspicious things. They are all very efficient and specific in their behaviors, as if they are coordinating their efforts. They go about the house putting objects that you cannot quite see in hidden locations. One of them, a woman in her mid-twenties, places some long thin rods in the opening of her purse and starts to walk away, but then re-thinks this decision and lingers in the area to make sure that nothing happens to them.

Time passes, and the benefit is drawing to a close. The husband is saying farewell to some guests a few yards away from his wife. A couple members of the suspicious group confront the man, and we realize that the only people left in the house are members of this group, this couple, and one other guest. While the man looks on in fear, the young woman takes one of the thin rods and kills the remaining guest with it, letting the man know that he will be framed for the murder.

Before he can react too much to that event, one of the other group members warns him not to be too much of a hero, as they have his children under their control as well. They show him a tablet with video footage of three young children, all oddly frozen in a state of play, and held in captivity. Their surroundings look familiar, like the vestibule of the couple’s condo.

In horror, the man looks over to his wife, who is being held between two group members. One of the group members told him that he shouldn’t be too distracted, that something was also going to happen to his wife. Reveling in his pain, they allowed him to walk over to her. He cupped her face in his hands, both grieving over their lost guest and the fate of their children Then, his eyes went wide in disbelief, as one side of her face started drooping as if she were suffering a stroke. She was unaware of what was happening, and with tear-filled eyes, he explained to his wife what he was seeing. They both understood the implications of this and were devastated.

I’ve lost much of the nuance and plot-detail, but I was fascinated with how complex it seemed. Doesn’t my brain know that bedtime is for resting?! Also, that is some creepy messed-up story!