Resolution (2012)

Michael Danube, a graphic designer living in the city with his pregnant wife, receives an email containing a video of Chris Daniels, his best friend. Chris, a drug addict, has retreated to a remote rural area and has become delusional and erratic. A map is included with the video. Despite his wife's objections, Michael makes one last attempt to save Chris. He promises to return after one week and follows the map.

At his destination, Michael hears Chris ranting and shooting a pistol. Chris invites Michael in and starts ranting about various subjects. When Chris refuses to go into rehab, Michael subdues him with a stun gun, handcuffs him, and says that he will make Chris go cold turkey to get sober. In the morning, Michael staves off an attempted attack from Chris.

Later, Micah and Billy, Michael and Chris' old acquaintances, arrive and ask for drugs that Chris is holding. After Michael drives them off, Chris warns against messing with them, as they have become violent and unpredictable. As he takes a walk, Michael meets members of a UFO religion, then returns to the house and finds a set of strange photographs. Micah and Billy return, but Charles, a tribal security guard chases them off. Charles tells Michael that Chris is squatting on reservation land, but accepts Michael's bribe in exchange for letting them stay for five days.

After they discover disturbing film footage, Chris denies sending any emails or videos. Michael finds a book full of campfire stories on their doorstep, and, when he returns the book to the library, finds film slides in its place. Confused by the items that seem purposefully left for them to find, Michael suggests that it is a prank by Billy and Micah, which Chris dismisses.

Michael continues to find clues strewn about the area. When he bribes Charles for information, Charles warns him against digging into the past, only saying French students used the area for research, and they asked a lot about the nearby caves. They encounter a con artist who offers to buy the house and leaves after Michael says that they are only "renting." Michael re-watches the video he received in the e-mail and finds it has changed, it now shows an argument that Michael and Chris had moments before. Billy and Micah return and kill a dog that Chris had adopted, and Chris reveals that he is suicidal.

Michael explores the nearby caves, finding imagery of figures on the wall, then rushes out when a homeless man screams at him, causing Michael to sprain his ankle. He then tracks down the dog's original owner, an archeologist named Byron, a member of the original French research team. Byron, who smokes a hallucinogenic drug that is red in color, suggests that the two other student researchers were looking for monsters and found themselves. Byron believes the area is not haunted; instead, "something" there desires stories. While reflecting a small mirror into a large one, creating an infinity of reflections of himself and Michael, Byron stresses the need for a beginning, middle, and end. Unnerved by Byron's eccentricity, Michael leaves.

The next morning, Michael awakes to a image of two figures on the wall, similar to images from the cave, apparently carved by Chris' knife found on the floor. Chris questions Michael's sanity and they discuss the confusing, threatening situation and all the clues that seemed to be placed deliberately for them to find. Chris then admits that he will never go to rehab, and Michael needs to learn to let him go. As he turns to leave the cabin, the film projector Michael has been using turns on and projects gruesome deaths and funeral photos of himself and Chris. Michael's laptop then glitches to show their current self (as if through a livestream or webcam recording), which glitches and seemingly fast-forwards to footage of Micah and Billy beating them to death. Thinking of Byron's message, Michael theorizes that an entity has been watching them this whole time and wants an ending to their story.

Michael and Chris flee the house together. Michael spots the bag of meth in a truck that he owed to Billy, and Chris places it near the front door of the house for Billy to find in their absence. In Michael's car, they find and listen to a CD that has a recording of Charles murdering them and burning down the house. Chris wants to leave the property immediately; Michael, however, does not want to bring the curse home and wants to appease the entity instead.

The door to a nearby shed suddenly falls over. Chris and Michael reluctantly investigate and find a film reel, unsure of whether to open it now or bring it with them elsewhere. They spot Micah and Billy, who break Michael's truck windows; Chris and Michael hide behind the shed and check the reel, which reveals images of the pair, such as a scene of them outside, near a fire. Michael laments that there could be footage of them on cameras and recording devices anywhere in the world. They notice Micah and Billy entering the cabin and joyously consuming the meth.

Michael suggests hiding by the rocks in front of the cabin (the location shown at the end of the film reel), in order to appease the entities with following the story through to the end. They wait until nighttime, watching Micah and Billy partaking in the drugs, and talk positively about their memories, relationships, and their lives. Michael reveals that he is an expectant father, and affirms that Chris would be a great uncle to his future child.

They witness Charles and a companion from the reservation killing Micah and Billy before setting the house on fire. Chris and Michael panic; Chris breaks down and finally agrees to go to rehab. Their joy over achieving a happy ending to their story is abruptly cut short when the entity angrily confronts them. Chris kneels before it and apologizes profusely, and Michael asks the entity if they can try again. The creature roars in response.