Citadel (2012)

Tommy and his pregnant wife Joanne are moving out of their flat in a condemned tower block. But when Tommy is in the lift, Joanne is cornered by a group of young teenagers, all wearing hoodies. Tommy watches helplessly from the lift as the gang attack his wife, but the lift door won't open. When he finally gets to Joanne, he finds her beaten, with a syringe in her stomach. She is rushed to hospital, where doctors save her baby, but Joanne is left in a comatose condition.

Eight months later, Tommy is living in a run-down council estate, which is a little better than the tower block he vacated, and caring for his baby daughter Elsa. As a result of the attack on his wife, he has agoraphobia and is terrified when he has to leave his house. He visits Joanne at the hospice where she is being cared for, but is told there is no hope of her recovery. Tommy consents to have his wife taken off life support. Grief-stricken, he is consoled by a friendly nurse, Marie.

At Joanne's funeral, Tommy meets a foul-mouthed and eccentric priest who warns him that the gang of feral teenagers will be back for his daughter. The priest is in the charge of a young boy, Danny, who is blind but - strangely - appears to be able to "see" Tommy.

Everyone is gradually being evicted from the estate where Tommy lives, as the area is being redeveloped. Tommy is one of the last tenants left. That night, the hoodies break into his house and ransack the place, apparently looking for Elsa. Tommy calls Marie, but the call is disconnected before he can explain the situation. He spends the rest of the night barricaded in the bathroom with the baby, where Marie finds him the next morning.

Marie lets Tommy and Elsa stay with her for a few days. Trying to calm him down, Marie disputes that the same gang were looking to kidnap his daughter, instead suggesting that he's simply the victim of two random, violent attacks by different groups of teenagers. Unconvinced, Tommy demands to see the priest again, and Marie offers to help.

The priest tells Tommy that he wants to destroy the tower block, which he says has become a nesting place for creatures that are no longer human. He tells Tommy of an urban myth: a young pregnant woman, a junkie, gave birth to twins in the building. The children grew up alone, and eventually had an incestuous relationship, which resulted in the birth of a mutant breed, blind and feral, who "see" people by sensing their fear. They kidnap children and turn them into creatures like themselves. Danny was such a child, but the priest rescued him before he was fully transformed. Danny, although blind, can sense fear and protect others from being detected by the ferals.

Overwhelmed, Tommy refuses to help the priest and returns to Marie's apartment. Marie doesn't believe the story either, and she expresses empathy toward the youths, saying that they need someone to care about them. The next day, Marie accompanies Tommy and the baby to the bus depot, where he can catch a bus to his new council accommodation. Their route takes them through a long, badly lit underpass. Seeing a group of hoodies ahead, Tommy is frozen with fear and refuses to go further, but Marie says she will prove to him there is nothing to be afraid of, and approaches the teenagers. Tommy watches in horror as they attack and kill her.

Tommy flees with the baby, but the ferals give chase. He manages to board a bus, but when the bus stops further down the road, hoodies swarm on board, attack the driver and another passenger, and then beat Tommy and take Elsa.

Desperate to save Elsa, Tommy demands help from the priest. Reluctantly, the priest agrees to help him, but only if Tommy will help blow up the abandoned tower block. They go there with Danny, who uses his ability to prevent the ferals from sensing their presence, and proceed to wire the building with home-made explosives, but Tommy separates from the others when he hears a baby crying. It turns out to be a trap, and ferals descend upon them, but the priest sacrifices himself to save Tommy and Danny. Before he dies, the priest reveals himself as the father of the original infected kids. Tommy and Danny make their way to the basement, where they find Elsa, who is safe and well. But sadly there are other "turned" children in cages, now beyond help.

When Tommy, Danny and Elsa head for the exit, they see their way is blocked by the ferals. Danny, scared, reveals that he never had the power to protect anyone, but Tommy - who has overcome his fear - is able to navigate their way through the group, who do not sense their presence.

Outside, Tommy watches from afar as explosions go off, destroying the building and its mutant inhabitants.