The Strange Case

Star psychology student Henry arrives at the Stevenson Psychiatric Facility for the last day of a three day sleep study organized by Dr. James Kyle, his former professor and now staff member of the facility. While waiting to meet with the doctor, he is accosted by a patient named Mr. Edwards, who tries to get Henry to see something inside a odd wooden box Edwards carries around. Henry sees nothing inside the box, and an increasingly aggravated Edwards slinks off, swearing that Henry must look inside "his case" again. After the patient leaves, Dr. Kyle's secretary, Martha, enters the waiting room and fetches him. Inside Dr. Kyle's office Henry greets the doctor's daughter, Emma, who is also volunteering for the sleep study, at her father's behest. Dr. Kyle reviews the past two days of experiments with them, stating that the data from the sleep study will be instrumental in discovering transformative mental states - and that it was crucial in the final part of the experiment. He instructs Emma and Henry to enter a mental construct, an imaginary space the doctor created, through lucid dreaming. He states this is the key to the whole experiment, and both begrudgingly agree to sleep. Henry awakens in a house like the doctor's, unsure of where he is or how he got there. As he walks through the house he realizes he is in a nightmare - and then he hears screaming, and follows the screams down to the basement. The screams are coming from behind a locked door, and when he looks through the keyhole, he sees Mr. Edwards inside, killing Emma. Henry is suddenly back in the waiting room - and Edwards asks him if he saw anything. Flashback to the first day: Emma arrives early for the first day of the study and greets Martha, the secretary. They chat about their school work and the difficulties of their pursuits. Dr. Kyle arrives with the facility director, Rebecca Stevenson, and after Martha nervously lets the doctor know of a package she left on his desk, Dr. Kyle takes Emma to begin the first day. On the second day, Henry and the doctor discuss Emma's involvement in the study. The doctor reveals their close relationship is an aid in the experiments and something that he personally likes to see. As they recall the first night Henry and Emma met, the doctor sees Mr. Edwards in the office. Later that evening, Dr. Kyle sits alone in his home, battling visions of Edwards as the patient tries to get him to see inside "his case." Edwards' taunting reveals he is some dark aspect of the doctor's psyche, but he is interrupted by a visit from the facility director, Rebecca. Dr. Kyle's fringe experiments into "tulpic thought formations" have become a problem. His sleep study is revealed to be a covert attempt at "releasing" Edwards from his psyche and sending it into Henry in order to protect Emma. Rebecca declares that the doctor needs to complete the experiment neatly, without any problems. Flash-forward to the third day: With Emma and Henry finally asleep, the doctor brings Martha into the office to inject them both with a strange chemical. Dr. Kyle rationalizes what he is doing to Martha, but his words do not reach her spurring a violent outburst from the doctor reminisce of Edwards. His anger disrupts the experiment, and as he shoos Martha out, Henry's nightmare begins. After waking up from the nightmare, Henry divulges what he remembers from the dream, until the Edwards apparition begins invading his thoughts and warning him against trusting the doctor. Emma and her father tensely argue over what happened, and when it becomes clear that the stress is getting to Henry, Emma decides they both need to step outside. On the way out, Henry recognizes a nervous tick of Martha's as something he saw in his dream. Outside, he confesses to Emma his initial meeting of Edwards on the third day and reveals he saw Martha in his dream. Emma deduces that his subconscious is trying to warn him against something, and they go back inside to confront Martha. Inside, the secretary's desk is bloodied and destroyed. Emma immediately pulls out her phone to call the police, but Henry rushes to help Martha, leaving behind Emma. Henry is immediately caught by Dr. Kyle, and the maddened doctor tries to kill him. Henry has one last vision of warning from the apparition Mr. Edwards before dying. The doctor arranges the bodies of Martha and Henry as if they were preparing for the experiment. Back in the waiting room, Emma gets off the phone with the police, and uses the intercom to try and reach her Dad. He answers back that all he has done has been to protect her, inviting her to join him, with Martha and Henry, "in his case." Emma warily enters the office. There is no sign of Dr. Kyle, Henry, or Martha. Only the wooden box remains.