Lights Out

Josh Hammond’s roommate, Tyler, shows him the image that Aly sent of the Faceless Man, and Josh immediately recognizes it as himself. Josh’s father, George Marshall Secliff, was a criminal who abused his family and assaulted and killed women. Josh hid his mother and stepfather’s presence online, but he struggles to look at his own face without remembering his father beating him. Since his arrest, Josh’s skills in cybersecurity led him to a well-paying job and allowed him to investigate all of Tyler’s hook-ups. Josh rarely has any romantic connections of his own, and he avoids anyone who might identify his relation to his father. To feed his vanity, which he got from his father, Josh started posting “thirst trap” videos. He wears a mask in them to hide that he is nearly identical to his father.

Josh remembers meeting Aly and being attracted to her. Josh retreats to his room and finds comments that Aly left on his Faceless Man videos. Her comments are about wanting to have sex with him or to find him waiting to assault or kill her in her home. He masturbates while thinking about breaking into Aly’s house and forcing her to have sex with him. His fantasy also includes physical violence, though Josh is happy that he is not aroused by the idea of killing Aly.

One week later, Josh breaks into Aly’s house. He spent the week investigating the street, any security systems, and how to break in. Aly does not have a security system, and Josh plans to order her one. He is anxious but excited, but he freezes when he gets inside and meets Fred. Fred is nervous at first, but then he purrs and rubs against Josh. Josh notes that this is the first time he has pet an animal, having avoided them in case he turned out to be a serial killer like his father. Realizing that he does not want to harm Aly or Fred, Josh is comforted by the thought that he does not display psychopathy, but he worries that he might still be a sociopath. Josh sets up his equipment to film a video in Aly’s house, intending to test the limits of Aly’s fantasy.

In the break room, Aly and Tanya note strange trends in people’s injuries. Tanya invites Aly to a recruitment event, and Aly reluctantly agrees. Tanya leaves, and Aly remembers that the Faceless Man should have a new video up. She rushes to the locker room and loads the video. She notices that details of the bedroom in the video are the same as her own, but she thinks she is only fantasizing that he is in her room. She is aroused by the video and regrets watching it where she cannot masturbate. She leaves a comment about the comforter, knowing that the other viewers will be jealous, and then leaves.

At home, Aly pours a glass of wine, lamenting the rough night at work. She delays feeding Fred to masturbate, but she freezes when she sees something on her bed. She gets her gun, noting that she takes personal defense lessons. She sees that the object is the Faceless Man’s mask, and she realizes that his video was filmed in her room. She debates whether the Faceless Man is a serial killer using his platform to lure in victims, but she is also aroused.

Josh watches Aly through a camera disguised as a phone charger in her bedroom. He worries that he went too far in his fantasy, and he expects that Aly will call the police. He is aroused by Aly’s confident sweep of her home with her gun, noting that he prefers confident women. His father preyed on meek women, and Josh avoids them like he avoided pets. Josh notes that he recently stopped taking anti-psychotics, which he suspects he should resume taking. He learns that Aly’s cat’s name is Fred when she speaks to him on the camera.

She messages Josh, asking if he broke into her house, and Josh remains vague in his responses. Aly seems aroused, and Josh is relieved that she is excited to play out their fantasy. He sends her the full video in her bedroom, in which he takes out his penis. She starts to masturbate, prompting Josh to turn off the camera feed. He weighs the morality of his actions and his obsession with Aly.

Aly masturbates to the video that Josh sent, imagining that he is still there on her bed. She was not sure if she was really into the mask fetish, but this experience confirms it. She suspects that her interest in dark, dangerous sex is in part due to her work as a nurse. After masturbating, she realizes that she cannot call the police because she likely destroyed the evidence. Also, she remembers that many of her comments on Josh’s videos invite him to break in and have sex with her. She worries that Fred is scared from the break-in. Fred has never liked any men Aly brought home. She sweeps the house again, and then she hears chimes on her phone. Josh messaged her good night and called her Alyssa, a name she has never used on her social media account. Aly debates whether she wants Josh to come back, and she wonders if this is the “horror movie” in which she dies.

Aly sleeps with a baseball bat and then wakes up ready to plan her next steps. She wants to get security equipment, but she cannot figure out how Josh broke in. She is both worried and aroused. She worries that he hacked her phone, and she remembers that Tyler’s roommate is a computer expert. Aly only met Josh once, but she remembers him being tall and muscular. She tries to think of a way to ask Tyler for Josh’s help in tracking down the Faceless Man. She uses her laptop to search for answers, worried that she will be pulled back to the video that Josh sent her on her phone.

Josh watches as Aly researches how to cut off any monitoring that he put in place. He worries about his dark urges, but he reflects that his father first killed someone when he was a teenager. Josh does not want to hurt Aly or Fred, and he does not show any other signs of being dangerous, except that he is stalking Aly. Aly checks if Josh could be watching her through her laptop camera, and he messages her to stop her from covering her camera. Aly threatens Josh through the camera, which arouses him. He fantasizes about defending himself from Aly’s attack.

Aly calls Tyler, and Josh panics. She tells Tyler that she needs his roommate’s help finding someone, and Tyler says that he and Josh will help her. Josh immediately concocts a plan to pretend that he is not the Faceless Man, noting how his tattoos and room would give him away. He transfers the audio and video feed from her bedroom to his phone and tablet, and then he leaves to go for a drive.

In the car, Josh hears Aly receive the first of his gifts: a store’s worth of flower arrangements. He drives around the area where Aly lives. She messages Josh to say that the flowers are a bad apology and that she is mad at him. She has to pay the delivery driver $50 to get them redelivered to the hospital, but Josh immediately repays her through an anonymous account. Still mad, Aly accepts another package filled with security equipment, including cameras, alarms, and a camera detector. Aly threatens to call the cops, but Josh sends her another video of him playing with Fred. Aly chuckles, surprised that Fred likes him, but she uses the camera finder and finds the camera in her bedroom. Aly worries that Josh watched her masturbate, but he assures her that he did not. Unsure if she can believe him, she disconnects the camera and logs off her phone. Josh hopes that he can convince her she can trust him.