SYNOPSIS

Set against the backdrop of an emerging apocalyptic virus, The Demons Are Here follows three strangers whose lives violently collide over a bag of stolen money as the world falls apart around them.

Edwin Hershel Goat (49) is a contract killer running on fumes. Addicted to opioids, estranged from his ex-wife and twelve-year-old son Miles, and haunted by the suicide of his teenage daughter Thea, Edwin has been quietly planning his own death for years. He steals painkillers from his dying mother's medicine cabinet, lies to his therapist, and puts an empty gun in his mouth when no one's watching. His employer, Charlotte Belrose, and her husband, Moisé, run a criminal operation out of a liquor store in Atlanta. When a one-armed thief named Johnny Doug Flowers robs their safe of over half a million dollars on Christmas Eve, Charlotte dispatches Edwin to recover it — his last chance to prove he's still useful.

Beta Olivia Hunt (24) tends bar at a dive called Graffiti. Sharp, resourceful, and shaped by a childhood of poverty and abuse, Beta has spent her whole life in survival mode. Her boyfriend, Luca Lizard (27), is a charming but aimless musician who fronts a mediocre band with his drummer, Spike (26). On the night of the robbery, Luca — drunk and high on Adderall — hits Johnny with his car, killing him. Beta takes charge: she orders them to load the body in the trunk, and when they discover the satchel full of cash, she claims it. Her plan is to flee to Miami, where an ex-boyfriend can set them up with new identities. But first, they'll stop at Luca's stepdad's beach house in Charleston to dump the body.

Meanwhile, an extraterrestrial pathogen — carried to Earth on satellite debris — begins spreading through the population. People bleed from their eyes, noses, and ears before dying. Hospitals overflow. Emergency alerts interrupt broadcasts. The virus, dubbed Influenza E or IEV, carries a ninety-two percent mortality rate. The world is ending, and nobody in the story has time to notice.

Edwin tracks the stolen money to Beta and Luca's apartment, finds the address of the Charleston beach house, and follows them south. Charlotte, hedging her bets, also sends Yessiree Bob (40), a disfigured and sadistic killer, as a backup.

At the beach house, Luca and Spike dump Johnny's body in the marsh. That night, Beta steals the money and the car while the others sleep, driving south toward Savannah. She screams alone on the highway shoulder, then turns around and comes back — unable to abandon Luca despite every instinct telling her to run.

She returns to find Edwin has arrived. In the confrontation, Spike draws a gun on Edwin and fires, hitting him in the left arm. Edwin shoots back, killing Spike with a round to the neck. Luca is devastated. Beta and Luca duct-tape the wounded Edwin to a chair — with Edwin calmly instructing them on how to do it properly — and argue about what to do next. Edwin tells them the money belongs to dangerous people who will send someone worse if he doesn't return it. Beta presses a gun to his chest but can't pull the trigger. She decides to leave with the money anyway, dragging a reluctant Luca with her.

On the back road, Bob is waiting. He shoots out their tire, then puts a sniper round through Luca's head. Beta flees into the woods with the satchel and gun, eventually circling back to the beach house. Bob follows. Inside the house, Edwin has freed himself from the chair and disappeared. Bob corners Beta. Her gun clicks empty. He's about to kill her when Edwin appears in the doorway and shoots Bob twice in the chest. Bob, wearing a Kevlar vest, survives and overpowers the badly wounded Edwin. Beta grabs Edwin's fallen Beretta and shoots Bob through the hand and into his face, killing him.

In the aftermath, Beta and Edwin — both broken, both bleeding — sit on the porch together. She drives him to a bus station in his car. She offers him a share of the money; he refuses. She helps him slide behind the wheel and walks toward a Greyhound bus heading south. She doesn't look back. He drives north, toward Atlanta, toward Miles.

On the bus, Beta touches her upper lip. Her fingers come away bloody. A nosebleed. She stares at the blood and doesn't react. The bus keeps moving.

The film ends as it began: a world population counter, ticking down, accelerating into silence.

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