| Director | Nacho Vigalondo |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, science fiction action film, speculative fiction film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 110 min |
| Country | Canada, South Korea, Spain, United States |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $4.5 million |
Gloria is an unemployed writer struggling with alcoholism. Her boyfriend Tim, frustrated with her behavior, breaks up with her and kicks her out of their New York City apartment. Moving back to her family home in Mainhead, New Hampshire, Gloria reunites with her childhood friend Oscar, who now runs his late father's bar. Oscar warmly welcomes Gloria and offers her a job at the bar, which she accepts.
Working at the bar aggravates Gloria's alcoholism; she often drinks with Oscar and his friends, Garth and Joel, until morning, then sleeps it off in her nearly empty childhood home. At the same time, a giant reptilian monster appears in Seoul, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Gloria realizes that when she walks through a local playground at exactly 8:05 am, she causes the monster to manifest and can remotely control it.
Gloria shares her discovery with Oscar and his friends by dancing in the playground while they watch a newsfeed of the monster mimicking her movements. A helicopter launches a missile at the monster, causing Gloria pain. Gloria lashes out, destroying the helicopter, and killing the pilots. Horrified at what she has done, she collapses, causing widespread destruction. She awakens to find that a delighted Oscar also manifested in Seoul, but as a giant robot. Gloria tries to make amends by having the monster spell out an apology in Korean, to the delight of the South Korean people and media, and begins avoiding both the playground and alcohol.
After spending the night with Joel, Gloria discovers a drunken Oscar controlling the robot to taunt South Korea. After a tense confrontation, she makes him leave. Oscar thinks something happened between Gloria and Joel, becoming jealous. That night, he drunkenly insults his friends at the bar and demands Gloria have a beer, threatening to return to the playground if she refuses. The next morning, a sober Oscar apologizes to Gloria.
Tim pays a visit to Gloria but is irritated by her living situation before apologizing. Upon meeting Tim at the bar, Oscar provokes a confrontation by setting off a giant firework indoors. Tim tries to get Gloria to leave with him, but she stays to curb Oscar's destructive behavior. Oscar visits Gloria's house to prevent her from leaving, and Gloria recalls their childhood; as a child, Gloria made a paper diorama of Seoul as a school project, which was blown into what would later become the playground; a young Oscar retrieved it but destroyed it out of jealousy. Gloria's anger triggered lightning which strikes both of them, as well as their toys—Gloria's being a reptilian monster, and Oscar's being a robot.
In the present, Gloria recognizes that Oscar's manipulative behavior arises from his self-hatred at never having amounted to anything; the robot manifests as his way of making himself feel important. After deciding to leave town, Gloria races Oscar for the playground. Oscar incapacitates her and destroys a large portion of Seoul, killing hundreds of people. Oscar warns Gloria that for every day she is not with him, he will commit further rampages.
Shortly afterward, Gloria makes a trip to South Korea, apologizing to Tim over the phone, but says she owes him no explanations as he had ended their relationship. At 8:05 am in his time zone, Oscar carries out his threat, manifesting his robot in Seoul. Gloria walks toward it in Seoul, making her monster appear at the playground back home. Gloria's monster catches Oscar and flings him over the horizon, causing the robot and her monster to disappear. Gloria retreats to a bar and asks the bartender if she would like to hear an amazing story. The bartender says yes, and offers Gloria a drink, at which Gloria sighs.