Police psychologist Kate investigates what appears to be the murder of a husband by his wife, who claims he was the victim of a sleep demon.
Mara (2018) Full Movie Recap | Horror Recaps Studio
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Mara (2018) Full Movie Recap | Horror Recaps Studio
Copyright Disclaimer: In accordance with Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, "fair use" allowances are made for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. "Fair use" is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Any use of copyrighted material on our channel is intended for non-profit, educational, and personal purposes, and is done under fair use guidelines.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00At the beginning of the movie, we see Sophie sleeping in her room when she suddenly wakes
00:12up after hearing a sound.
00:14She notices that her closet door is open and calls out to her mother in fear, but when
00:19she doesn't get a response, she gets out of bed and goes to investigate.
00:24Outside her room, she hears her mother screaming, and as she approaches her parents' room,
00:28her mother comes out and Sophie sees her father's dead body on the bed, and the scene cuts here.
00:35Following this, we see a criminal psychologist named Kate Fuller arriving at a crime scene.
00:41Detective McCarthy informs her that Helena murdered her husband, and they just need to
00:45evaluate her state of mind.
00:47Kate is shocked to see Matthew's dead body, and when she asks why they are showing her
00:52this, McCarthy explains that before she decides whether Helena goes to court or a mental institution,
00:59she needs to understand the reality of what they are dealing with.
01:02During her investigation, Kate finds something written on a piece of paper that spells Takahas.
01:08She then goes to meet Sophie, who is hiding under the bed, and when Sophie refuses to
01:12come out, Kate decides to crawl under the bed to talk to her.
01:16Kate gently asks Sophie to tell her anything she remembers from the previous night.
01:21Sophie, trembling, tells her that she heard scary noises, and when Kate asks who hurt
01:27her daddy, Sophie reveals the name Mara.
01:30Kate returns to Helena and asks her about Mara, but Helena screams in terror, and the
01:36scene cuts abruptly.
01:38Next we see Kate with Helena in a confession room, where Helena reveals that Matthew confessed
01:43to her that he cheated on her with a student.
01:46She wanted a divorce, but he begged her to forgive him, but she just couldn't.
01:50Kate asks what happened last night, to which Helena explains that she woke up completely
01:55paralyzed, feeling pressed down into the mattress.
01:59There was something evil in the room, and she heard awful music.
02:03Then she saw the demon Mara, as real as Kate, sitting there.
02:07Mara climbed onto Matthew's chest and murdered him.
02:10Helena swears on Sophie that she did not kill him.
02:13That night, after much thought and despite her reluctance, Kate recommends that Helena
02:18be committed.
02:19However, she then hears a strange sound, and before she can understand anything, the wine
02:25glass on her table breaks by itself.
02:27The next day, Sophie visits Helena.
02:30An officer arrives and tells Helena that visiting time is up, asking her to come with him.
02:35Helena protests, insisting she is innocent, but the officer forcibly takes her away, separating
02:41her from Sophie.
02:42The next night, while Kate is sleeping at home, she suddenly wakes up and realizes she
02:47cannot move her body.
02:49She then hears a scary moaning in the distance, and to her horror, she sees a woman standing
02:54in front of her, and suddenly, Kate snaps out of paralysis.
02:59Later, Kate is sitting upset, looking at the drawing Sophie has made.
03:03She flips it over in frustration and notices something drawn on the back.
03:07Immediately, she recognizes it matches the piece of paper she found at Helena's house,
03:12and finds Takahashi knows more and an address written on it.
03:16The next morning, Kate arrives at the address and finds the door of the house open.
03:21Upon entering, she notices that the house is in disarray.
03:24She searches for Takahashi and enters his room, where she discovers his dead body lying
03:29on the bed.
03:30She calls the police, and McCarthy informs her that the man is not a registered US citizen.
03:36Kate points out that the injuries resemble those in Matthew's murder, but McCarthy dismisses
03:41the similarities as insufficient to suggest the same killer.
03:45She insists they should question Dougie, but he brushes her off, reminding her that she's
03:49just a psychologist and doesn't need to be involved in the investigation.
03:54Kate visits Helena at the mental hospital and asks if she knows Takahashi, but Helena
03:58remains silent.
04:00Kate then shares her own experience, explaining that when she was about Sophie's age, her
04:05mom started acting strange.
04:07About six months later, her mom was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
04:11Her dad couldn't cope and had her committed, and three weeks later, she hung herself.
04:16Kate reveals that her mom is the reason she became a psychologist, and that she understands
04:21what Sophie is going through.
04:23Helena reveals that Matthew always had a sleep paralysis problem.
04:26She wanted to help him, so she found a support group for sufferers in the city, run by Dr.
04:32Ellis, and there she met Takahashi and Dougie.
04:35Matthew was feeling much better, but that night he woke up paralyzed with a red mark
04:40in his eye, and he saw her.
04:42Kate promises Helena that they will find Matthew's killer, but Helena angrily insists that she
04:47already told her it was a sleep demon.
04:50She then shows Kate a red mark in her eye, explaining that she has been marked and that
04:55the demon is coming for her.
04:57Helena warns that if Kate doesn't get her out of there soon, she will die.
05:01Kate then attends a session led by Dr. Ellis, where people share their experiences with
05:05sleep paralysis.
05:07Everyone describes feeling or seeing something evil in their room.
05:11One of them, named Saul, says the entity is here now, watching them.
05:15He adds that he even sees her everywhere when he is awake and not paralyzed.
05:20Ellis asks Saul who he is talking about, and Saul responds that it is a haggard old woman
05:26sent by Satan.
05:27Just then, Dougie says it's Mara and warns Saul not to sleep.
05:31Ellis explains that what Saul saw was a hallucination, but Dougie insists it's a ghost and warns
05:37Saul that he is in grave danger.
05:40He approaches Saul, takes off his glasses and says he is cursed.
05:44Ellis asks everyone to calm down, but Dougie tells Saul that he is in the final stage.
05:49He instructs Saul to do whatever he needs to do to stay awake, or he will die tonight.
05:54He then tells everyone that Mara is real and she will kill every one of them.
05:59And tonight, Saul dies.
06:01The next day, Kate tells McCarthy what Dougie said the previous night and suggests that
06:06he might be the killer.
06:07McCarthy responds that if she gets a lead, she should come to him and not follow it up
06:12herself.
06:13When Kate returns home, she gets a voicemail from Helena, saying that Mara is getting closer
06:19and she needs to see Sophie to say goodbye.
06:22Kate calls the hospital but finds that the lines are closed.
06:26Meanwhile, we see Saul outside a church, terrified, and dousing himself with gasoline.
06:31He then recites some prayers and then sets himself on fire.
06:35Kate suddenly wakes up from her sleep and realizes that she is paralyzed.
06:40She tries to move, but to her horror, she sees the old woman under the table.
06:44The woman suddenly screams, and Kate snaps out of her paralyzed state.
06:49She fearfully moves towards the table to check underneath it, but suddenly her phone starts
06:53ringing.
06:54She picks up the call and McCarthy informs her that Saul is dead.
06:58McCarthy picks up Dougie for questioning and asks him about Takahashi, Matthew, and Saul,
07:04to which Dougie responds with a terse no comment.
07:07McCarthy presses further, asking if he killed these people, but Dougie continues to say
07:11no comment.
07:13Kate intervenes, asking Dougie about Mara and offering to help him if he talks.
07:17Dougie eventually opens up, revealing that he met Takahashi at the group session, who
07:22was the first person to see Mara.
07:25Initially, he thought he was going crazy, but Mara appeared to him that same night as
07:29well.
07:30He and Takahashi began investigating and discovered that Mara had been killing people since ancient
07:35times.
07:36Kate asks Dougie if he knows Matthew.
07:39Dougie confirms that he does, and also knows his wife Helena.
07:43He reveals that Matthew was marked, and shows them a similar mark in his own eye.
07:48Dougie explains that he warned Matthew not to sleep, but Matthew didn't listen.
07:53Kate asks if this demon marks its victims first, and then kills them, and Dougie confirms
07:58this.
07:59McCarthy questions why he is still alive when the others are dead, suggesting that he is
08:04the only suspect in the three murders, to which Dougie says, but he doesn't have a
08:08single shred of evidence against him.
08:11When they come out, Kate suggests, what if this demon is another aspect of Dougie's
08:16personality?
08:17McCarthy responds, still without any physical evidence, he can't make an arrest.
08:22He then tells her that they have a viable suspect now, so Helena can go home and be
08:26with her daughter.
08:28Kate visits the hospital to share the good news with Helena, but to their horror, they
08:32find Helena's dead body in her room.
08:35Kate is deeply upset by the incident, and that night, while she is trying to calm herself
08:40in the bathtub, she suddenly wakes up to find herself in a paralyzed state, unable to move.
08:46The bathroom door opens, and she starts hearing strange sounds.
08:51Mara then appears behind the curtain, and seeing her, Kate becomes terrified.
08:55Mara raises her hand and starts moving towards her, but suddenly she disappears, and Kate
09:00comes out of paralysis.
09:02However, her fear intensifies when she sees footsteps on the floor.
09:06Realizing that what she saw was not a dream, she quickly rushes in front of the mirror
09:11to check her eye and finds the mark there.
09:14The next day, she sneaks into McCarthy's office, where she finds Dougie's address
09:19and discovers a package containing a pen drive of Helena's death.
09:22She plugs the pen drive into McCarthy's computer and watches the CCTV footage.
09:27Shockingly, in one frame of the video, a dark figure is seen sitting over Helena and killing
09:33her.
09:34Kate visits Dougie, who shows her his research and explains that Mara has been seen by millions
09:39of people all over the world, known by various names.
09:43In medieval literature, art, and the Chinese Book of Dreams, Mara is mentioned, with the
09:48first recorded evidence dating back to 400 BC.
09:52Kate asks why Mara only kills a few when millions have seen her.
09:57Dougie admits he hasn't figured it out, but notices a pattern.
10:01Mara kills in clusters after significant events.
10:04He explains the stages of Mara's curse.
10:07Stage 1 is paralysis and seeing Mara, an experience millions have had.
10:12For some, it progresses to stage 2.
10:15Mara marks you with red in the eye.
10:17Stage 3 involves physical contact as she climbs on your chest and grips your throat.
10:22Stage 4 means you'll see her when awake, and the next time you sleep, you die.
10:27She asks how he's still alive if this is true, to which he explains that he only sleeps
10:32for 20 minutes at a time, because he has figured out that Mara only appears when you are in
10:37a deep sleep.
10:39Kate doubts that lack of sleep is affecting his mind, but he insists that she can believe
10:44in all the science she wants.
10:46But right now, he's telling her the truth.
10:48She is marked, and their only hope is to figure out what connects them all, or they will all
10:53die.
10:54Kate leaves there, but he warns her not to sleep, and find the link, so they can stop
10:58her.
10:59Kate visits Dr. Ellis to discuss her meeting with Dogi, but he provides scientific explanations
11:04for everything she mentions.
11:06He takes her to a sleep lab, which is designed to look like a typical room in a house so
11:11that the patient feels at home.
11:12The lab includes a control room, where they monitor sleepers.
11:16Kate asks what this has to do with Helena's death, to which Ellis explains that what people
11:22see during sleep paralysis is directly influenced by the culture around them and things that
11:28scare them.
11:29For him, it was Freddy Krueger.
11:31In the old days, it was witches, and now it's aliens.
11:35Kate counters that Mara isn't part of their culture, so why did she see her?
11:39Ellis explains that Helena's story about her sleep demon scared her.
11:44When she later experienced sleep paralysis, she saw the same thing.
11:48He insists that Mara is not real, and that sleep paralysis cannot kill.
11:54That night, Dogi's generator stops working, causing all the alarms in his house to go
11:59off.
12:00Meanwhile, Kate wakes up to the sound of Sophie's voice in her house, calling out for her mom.
12:06Confused, Kate gets up from her bed and walks towards the window to check.
12:10She sees Sophie standing outside, but the next moment, she hears the voice from behind
12:14her, and Helena's ghost comes out.
12:17Kate wakes up from sleep in a paralyzed state, and to her horror, she sees Mara standing
12:22beside her bed.
12:23Her fear intensifies as Mara climbs onto her bed and starts moving toward her.
12:28Mara sits on top of Kate and begins to choke her, but suddenly, Kate snaps out of her paralyzed
12:34state.
12:35The next day, Kate calls Sophie's grandpa to check on Sophie.
12:38He tells her that Sophie has been having bad dreams ever since she talked to Kate.
12:43She believes it was her fault that her mother got locked up.
12:46The next day, Kate receives a voice message from Dogi, who tells her that he fell asleep
12:52and is now at stage 4.
12:54Meanwhile, Dogi, desperate to stay awake, cuts his eyelids to keep from falling asleep.
12:59Just then, Kate arrives and tries to calm him down, assuring him that there is no Mara.
13:05She promises to help him, but he has to trust her.
13:08She brings Dogi to Ellis' clinic, where Ellis tells Kate that they are both just exhausted.
13:13He assures her that all they need is a good night's sleep and their problems will be over.
13:19After some time, Kate and Dogi fall asleep in the sleep lab, while Ellis and his assistant
13:24Carly monitor them from the control room.
13:27When nothing happens for a long while, Carly steps out for a smoke.
13:31While Ellis is momentarily distracted, Mara enters the sleep lab.
13:35Suddenly, Kate wakes up to see Mara moving towards Dogi, but because she is paralyzed,
13:40she is unable to do anything.
13:42She watches helplessly as Mara sits on Dogi's chest and throttles him.
13:46Ellis notices this, but by the time he rushes into the lab, Mara has already killed Dogi.
13:52As Ellis checks on Dogi, Mara approaches Kate and attempts to choke her as well.
13:57However, Ellis intervenes just in time and wakes her up.
14:01Kate visits the hospital and learns that Sophie experienced sleep paralysis the previous night
14:07and is now seeing things.
14:09Kate tries to talk to Sophie, but Sophie tells her that Mara is behind her.
14:13Hearing this, Kate becomes scared and tells Sophie's grandpa that Sophie is in the final
14:18stage.
14:19She warns him not to let Sophie sleep, or she will die.
14:22Grandpa, distressed and protective, asks Kate to leave, and before leaving, Kate promises
14:28Sophie that she will be back.
14:30Kate sneaks into Dogi's house to learn more about Mara, where she discovers that all of
14:35Mara's victims had some form of guilt.
14:37For instance, Saul killed his mom, Matthew had an affair, and Dogi was involved in killings
14:43in Iraq.
14:44She calls McCarthy and asks about Takahashi, explaining that he did something significant
14:49that caused all of this.
14:51McCarthy reveals that back in Japan, Takahashi was a chef in a primary school.
14:56He made a deal on some cheap, contaminated raw fish, which led to the death of 38 children.
15:02Takahashi had been on the run ever since.
15:05Kate theorizes that Takahashi ended up where they are now, because his guilt over what
15:09happened brought Mara out.
15:11Mara killed Takahashi and then spread, drawn to people's guilt.
15:16She rushes to save Sophie, but on the way, she starts feeling sleepy.
15:20Kate tries hard to keep herself awake, and as she struggles, she sees Helena standing
15:25on the roadside.
15:27Suddenly, Sophie appears in front of her car, causing Kate to lose control, and her car
15:31collides with an electric pole.
15:33She catches a ferry to the hospital, but on the way, she falls asleep.
15:38After a while, when she wakes up, she realizes something is wrong.
15:42She hears footsteps approaching her, and suddenly Mara jumps down, frightening Kate.
15:47After this, she looks out of the window and sees Mara there, who suddenly attacks her.
15:52Terrified, Kate quickly gets off the ferry and starts running towards the hospital.
15:57She somehow reaches the hospital, but Kate realizes that Mara has followed her there.
16:01Kate rushes to Sophie, but before she can tell her anything, the lights suddenly go
16:06off, and Sophie goes into sleep paralysis.
16:09Just then, Mara arrives, and Kate tries to protect Sophie by telling Mara that she is
16:14the guilty one, not Sophie.
16:17Kate urges Sophie to blame her, and tries to wake her up.
16:20Mara attacks Sophie, but Kate intervenes, and Mara suddenly disappears.
16:25Sophie tells Kate that she doesn't blame her, and that she is innocent too.
16:29Kate assures Sophie that it's over, and she can sleep now.
16:33After this, Kate also sits on a chair nearby and falls asleep.
16:37After a while, McCarthy wakes her up and tells her that Sophie is fine, and he guesses it
16:41was all in her mind.
16:43Before leaving, Kate goes to see Sophie, but Sophie turns and says she forgives her, but
16:48Mom cannot.
16:49Helena appears and tells Kate that she will never forgive her for leaving her alone to
16:54die.
16:55McCarthy and Grandpa point Kate towards a chair, and to her shock.
16:59Kate sees herself sleeping there.
17:01Suddenly, she wakes up from her sleep, but realizes that she is paralyzed.
17:05And to her horror, she sees Mara approaching her.
17:08Mara comes closer and levitates in the air in front of her, and as Mara attacks her,
17:14the movie ends abruptly.
17:15Thanks for facing the frights with us.
17:17If you survived this video, drop a like, summon that subscribe button, and brace yourself
17:23for more horror.
17:24Until next time, stay spooked.