| Director | Steve Miner |
|---|---|
| Budget | $3 million |
| Box office | $22.1 million |
Famed author Roger Cobb's son Jimmy vanishes while they visit his aunt Elizabeth Hooper's home, leading to the collapse of his marriage to movie star Sandy Sinclair. When asked, the seemingly senile Elizabeth claims that Jimmy was taken by her house. When Elizabeth later hangs herself, Roger decides to keep her house, and moves in to work on his new book, a memoir of his experiences during the Vietnam War.
After moving in, Roger meets and befriends his neighbor, Harold Gorton, a fan of his books, and begins to have recurring nightmares about the war. Soon after, paranormal phenomena begin to plague him. He sees a monstrous creature in his late aunt's bedroom, a mounted swordfish seemingly comes back to life, and garden tools begin to levitate on their own. Roger also experiences a spectral vision of Elizabeth, who explains that the house "tricked" her into killing herself. When Roger deliriously explains to Harold what's going on, a worried Harold contacts Sandy, asking her to come and check on Roger.
All the while, Roger's nightmares about the war continue, and he recalls his old comrade "Big Ben", a large and boisterous man. One day their group was ambushed by the Viet Cong and Ben was severely wounded by gunfire. Ben begged Roger to mercy kill him to avoid capture, but Roger was unable to bring himself to do so. As Roger fled, Ben was captured by the enemy and tortured to death, leaving Roger with survivor guilt.
Roger is later confronted by a disgusting witch-like creature that briefly takes on Sandy's form, which he shoots, dismembers and buries in his backyard. Hearing the gunshot and seeing Roger carrying something, Harold becomes suspicious of Roger. Later, an attractive neighbor convinces Roger to babysit her toddler son, only for freakish gremlin-like creatures to try to abduct the boy; Roger manages to save him.
After Harold finally witnesses the supernatural phenomena and realizes Roger was telling the truth, Roger learns that the house is connected to a sinister dark dimension of ghosts and monsters. Realizing Jimmy is being held captive in this evil dimension, Roger enters through a portal he discovers in his bathroom medicine cabinet.
Roger manages to find Jimmy and escape back to the human world, but is confronted by Big Ben, now a hideous zombie-like creature. Ben explains that he took Jimmy in order to get revenge for Roger abandoning him in Vietnam. Ben pursues Roger and Jimmy throughout the house, and is eventually able to get the upper hand and recapture Jimmy; Ben demands that Roger kill himself in order to save Jimmy. Roger tries to grab his son, but Ben cuts off his hand with a large hunting knife, only for it to reappear seconds later. Roger realizes that his fear is what gives the house and the monsters their power, and that without it, they're harmless. Roger declares that he's no longer afraid of Ben or the house as Ben begins to panic and stammer out empty threats. Roger snags a grenade off Ben's belt and shoves it into his rib cage, fleeing with Jimmy as Ben explodes, setting a fire that burns the house down.
Outside, Sandy arrives in a taxicab and tearfully reunites with her son as Roger looks on, smiling.