house

The story opens with a scene from the point-of-view of a psychotic killer in a night-dress, killing first her mother and then her father with a hammer in the middle of a stormy night. The events are blurred and warped as if the killer is deranged or drugged.

Four years later, a newly divorced woman, Sarah Cassidy (Elisabeth Shue), and her daughter Elissa Cassidy (Jennifer Lawrence) find the house of their dreams in a small upscale town. Sarah informs her daughter that they can afford the house because a house a few blocks away from them was where the massacred family lived. As told by the neighbors: four years earlier a girl named Carrie Anne Jacobson killed her parents in the house next door and then fled into the woods. The townies believe that Carrie Anne drowned in the river yet her body has never been found, leaving others to believe that she lives in the woods. Carrie Anne's brother, Ryan Jacobson (Max Thieriot), is the sole survivor who at the time was looking after his ailing aunt far away. Ryan now lives alone in the house; the neighborhood hates the house as it drives down their property values. Bill Weaver (Gil Bellows), a local police officer, appears to be Ryan's only supporter.

Against the wishes of Sarah, Elissa and Ryan begin a relationship. Elissa's friend Jillian (Allie MacDonald) agrees to keep it a secret. Ryan tells her that he had accidentally injured Carrie Anne while they were swinging one day, as he was supposed to be watching her while their parents were inside getting high. Carrie Anne fell off the swings as she wanted to go higher, and Ryan says that she got brain damage which makes her extremely aggressive. Ryan returned to the house just after the murders with his aunt, who died a year ago before Elissa and Sarah moved in. It is revealed to the viewer that Ryan has secretly been taking care of a girl who appears to be Carrie Anne (Eva Link) in a hidden room. No locals know of the existence of Carrie Anne. Carrie Anne escapes the room on two occasions and appears to attempt to attack Elissa. During the second escape attempt, Ryan accidentally kills Carrie Anne while trying to hide her from a teenage couple and keep her quiet. In his grief, he visits a diner where a student waitress attempts to comfort him, giving him a slice of cake on the house.

While visiting Elissa’s battle of the bands, several high school students vandalize Ryan’s car and attack him. In defense, Ryan breaks Tyler's (Nolan Gerard Funk) ankle and runs home. The remaining students decide to burn his house down. Elissa stops the fire. Elissa then looks in the garbage and finds a packet of tampons and a box of contact lens. While inside, Elissa finds Ryan's secret room. As Ryan arrives home, she is attacked by Carrie Anne. Ryan then comes in and restrains Carrie Anne while telling Elissa to leave the room. The audience is zoomed into view Carrie-Ann's eyes - one of which is brown, while the other is blue. Upstairs, Elissa finds a blue contact on her hand and remembers the box she saw in the garbage. She unrolls the box to see that it was a box for 'True Blue' contacts. She then looks further through the trash can and finds a wallet with a student i.d for Peggy Jones (the waitress from the diner that Ryan went to). At this moment, it is revealed that the current Carrie Anne is actually Peggy (Jordan Hayes) who has been held captive and made to look like Carrie Anne.

In order to keep Carrie Anne secret, Ryan knocks Elissa out and ties her to a chair. He reveals that Carrie Anne actually died during the swing accident, by cracking her neck and getting no attention. but that he still needed Carrie Anne in his life. (Here we see a flashback where Ryan's father finishes burying Carrie Anne.) He knocks out the student and says he will make Elissa his new Carrie Anne. It becomes apparent that the first "Carrie Anne" rather was another victim attempting to escape from Ryan. When Weaver arrives, Ryan says Elissa isn't there, but Weaver decides to call her house phone (which has been call-forwarded to her cellphone) and then hears her cell phone ring inside the Jacobson house. In a scuffle with Ryan, Weaver tells Ryan that he has always defended him, but Ryan gets angry and stabs Weaver to death. Elissa escapes but is chloroformed by Ryan and thrown into the trunk of his car with Peggy's body. She awakens and escapes. Sarah arrives at the house and hears Elissa's screams, but is stabbed by Ryan. During a struggle, Ryan is shot several times by Elissa using Weaver's gun and finally knocked out by Sarah.

Elissa and Sarah move out, and Ryan is shown in a mental hospital. To explain how he became disturbed and why he killed his parents, a flashback shows young Ryan, about to blow out birthday candles, but is being called Carrie Anne. He tells his mother his name is Ryan, not Carrie Anne, where she slaps him, telling him his name is Carrie Anne repeatedly, revealing his parents forced him to dress and act like Carrie Anne after she died, containing their grief.