Plot Summary: A couple's marriage is put to test when they are "HELD" against their will in a vacation home.
Remember the good ol' days?
Yes, the days when things were simple, life felt easier and you didn't have too many worries?
At some point, we all think about the past and how we can only revisit it in our minds.
Some psychopaths, however, prefer recreating the past and often in damaging ways because the past didn't always work out well for everybody.
Women, for example, didn't always have equal rights; certain races too had a difficult time being accepted in society.
As much as we miss the past, perhaps it is a good thing that we are in the future. Progress will always be made and cannot be stopped.
Yet, there will always be some who think regressively and who will resort to crime to recreate it.
Held is a movie about such beliefs held by some really backward thinkers. To think that there might be people who have formed a whole organization to bring back the "good ol' days" is a scary thought.
HELD Movie Plot
The movie begins with a girl in the backseat with two guys. She is terrified as one of the guys reaches for her, implying she might be taken against her will.
The scene shifts to years later where Emma is taking a long drive to the middle of nowhere to a vacation house.
When have things ever worked well for people who go to houses in the middle of nowhere in horror movies?
The answer is that things do NOT go well for them.
Emma is being driven by Joe, a chatty driver who is also very inquisitive about her.
Emma keeps to herself and jots down notes in her notebook. He keeps calling her Mrs Barret and wonders why she isn't accompanied by her husband on this long road trip.
Now his concern, though prying, is justified. The road looks endless and Joe knows where he is dropping his customer and is concerned that as a woman she is going off to stay in a secluded location.
Emma watches him warily and gives a dismissive statement. That's the thing; unfortunately, nowadays women have no idea who to trust and who is genuinely concerned about them.
When Emma comes to the house, she makes sure to use all the security locks and then puts on music and dances in skimpy clothes while drinking wine.
Someone knocks on the door and Emma finds a dozen roses at the doorstep.
She takes them and then goes inside to dance terribly and spill her wine.
She bends down and is sober enough to notice that the wine puddle is weird around the counter.
Before she can investigate, there is a knock on the door. It is her husband Henry who was supposed to come the next day.
There goes Emma's one night to herself where she could dance in her underwear and drink wine. Now she must share her alcohol with her husband.
It is revealed that the couple is here to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Henry asks about her journey here to which Emma tells him she isn't good with keeping her things safe and left her notebook behind in the car. Henry tells her she needs to get on with the times and use a laptop where all her notes can be backed up.
They get comfortable and Henry pours Emma some whiskey.
After drinking that, Emma is unable to connect the charger and starts feeling dizzy.
She can't get into her bed either and Henry has to help her with everything.
She falls into bed just as Henry, too, complains of feeling weird.
Emma thinks she has a nightmare of random images and is being injected with something.
It is when she wakes up that things turn creepy. She finds two mugs of coffee on the bedside table with a note. She ignores it at first and turns around to cuddle with her husband. Then suddenly she gets up when she realizes what she is wearing.
She wakes up Henry to tell him that she is wearing a far better nightgown than the one she was wearing when she had gone to sleep. Henry doesn't think anything of it at first and wants to continue sleeping.
But Emma doesn't allow him anymore sleep and keeps poking him until he gets fed up and gets up. He too realizes something weird is going on when he sees that the clothes in the wardrobe definitely don't belong to him.
They wonder what could be going on and decide to get out of the house. But they soon find the doors locked and a voice informs them that they are trapped and must do as told.
First things first, both of them must change into outfits from the fifties.
The next order is that Henry must open the door for Emma at all times and she must smile and say thanks every time.
The couple does as told because disobedience causes electricity jolts to their heads. Apparently, they have something inserted behind the ear that causes a buzz to go up to their heads.
The next order is for Emma to cook dinner in the kitchen while Henry has to bring a laptop and sit near his wife while she cooks.
There is no WiFi, and Emma keeps chopping asparagus over and over while Henry is instructed to read from the only folder on the computer. He finds a text message exchanged between Emma and her lover, Ryan.
Henry gets upset and wants to leave but a buzz in his head, sets him straight.
Emma apologizes and assures Henry that her affair is over but Henry is still upset.
The Voice us determined the couple have a happy celebratory dinner and so forces them to have their meal and then go into their rooms and be intimate with each other.
While Henry is following orders, Emma refrains herself from pushing her husband away, clearly not enjoying herself. Henry suddenly stops saying he cannot do it.
The Voice isn't too happy that the romance he's planned for the couple is going awry. He punishes Henry by sending another electric shock up his ear. Emma desperately pleads that she would do whatever it takes for the Voice to stop punishing her husband but the Voice isn't interested in seeing the couple be intimate anymore.
Later Henry asks Emma why she didn't ask him to stop.
Emma recalls the incident from the beginning of the movie and says she finds it better to remain quiet rather than say anything.
Henry keeps promising Emma that he will get them out of this mess and at this point, we hardly have any confidence in reckless Henry.
Just then Joe comes by to return Emma's notebook.
The couple tries to signal to him for help but the house is apparently sound-proofed. Emma gets the idea to use a flashlight on the peephole. Joe sees it and Henry is evidently not too pleased by this.
Joe tries to jump over only to be pulled back by the masked man.
Emma is upset but then realizes that there has only been one guy speaking to them and that if he is outside they have enough time to look for another escape.
Again Henry doesn't seem too pleased. He is trying to show concern and wariness of the danger but wasn't he the one giving assurance to Emma that he would get them out of this?
Apparently, he's not a man of his word. So far Henry has done nothing but gets himself electrified and bleed and be tended to by his wife.
Emma thinks there might be a way out through the counter where she had spilt wine. Henry helps her and a Crawlspace is revealed.
Emma jumps right in while Henry keeps telling her it is a bad idea.
Emma goes in but can't see a way out.
Meanwhile, Henry is knocked out and the masked man pulls Emma out and then injects her.
Emma awakens to find herself wearing a different dress of an outdated fashion.
But she has a surprise waiting for her in the living room. It's Ryan, tied to a chair.
The Voice commands that she mend her marriage by killing Ryan. She refuses and the Voice tortures Henry by sending an electric pulse up his head.
HELD Ending Explained with Spoilers!
Emma is told that either Ryan dies or Henry. She chooses to kill Ryan and stabs him because he isn't over her and keeps trying to contact her. Emma has now made sure Ryan doesn't contact her again.
Later she is in her bedroom, clearly devastated for having to kill her lover. Henry consoles her by handing her a glass of whiskey and then walks away.
Emma recalls how the alcohol must be spiked causing them both to lose consciousness on the first night. She tries to call Henry but then realises the cameras are watching her, pretends to drink from the glass but actually pouring it under the bedside table and ruining a perfectly good rug.
Emma then pretends to lose consciousness while the masked man comes to check up on her. When he leaves, Emma decides to get some investigating done and finds a secret entrance through the wardrobe of outdated fashions. She finds a glass of whiskey and monitors everywhere and leafless trees as icons.
She turns on the TV that looks like it belongs from the fifties but actually plays recordings from this era. She discovers that a cult called the Eden Group has formed an organisation and offering services to correct wives. The Eden Group promises husbands that their wives will learn to behave and smile, cook dinners, and bear them children exactly like in the olden days.
Emma finds a video of Henry tossing out his whiskey on the first night and then changing Emma's clothes but not before he has his way with her against her will.
Emma is heartbroken and when she hears a noise, grabs the car keys and goes back to the bedroom to pretend to be unconscious.
The masked man and Henry take Emma to the car and Henry points out that he wasn't given the right car keys.
While they are away, Emma jumps into the front seat and then remembers that if she tried to escape, an electronic pulse will be sent to her head. She uses the key to remove the control from behind her ear and is about to turn on the car when the masked man appears.
Emma has to leave the car and run into the fields where she manages to use a shovel to defend herself and kill the man.
Henry arrives and Emma pretends to have just woken up and been attacked by the man. Henry almost believes her but sees a trail of blood from her ear and realizes Emma has removed the control device and must have learned the truth.
He makes excuses for Emma to enter the house and then attacks her, claiming to have done everything for her.
Emma isn't too impressed with this gesture and injects him with another device. Then using the watch she stole from the head of the Eden Group, she sends a strong electric vibration up Henry's head until his brain is fried.
Emma leaves the house in the car and stops in the middle of the road to help Joe.
Joe awakens and thanks Mrs Barret to which she replies to just call her Emma. She clearly can't remember her maiden name. Or perhaps she's done with surnames altogether.
Scare scale:
Aside from the typos and awkward attempts to be humorous, this is a solid plot explanation (granted it's one of the very few that undergo the plot summary through and through—beggars can't be choosers).
ReplyDeleteI feel like everyone sucks here. She was kind of a bad person, she was just the least bad out of the bunch
ReplyDelete