A young ventriloquist absorbs himself in an old, creepy dummy in hopes of becoming a star at any cost. And the cost is dear, indeed...  

SYNOPSIS:

Hiya Kid opens at a comedy club, where Tim, "the Voice" Vorpel, a warm-up act, is bombing as a ventriloquist with his two puppets, the dirty-old- man figure Mr. Vetch, and the naive young woman figure Belinda. The act always opens with Vetch saying "Hiya Kid" in a snarl when he is removed from his case and worn.

Tim's act closes to near silence and Tim knows he is in trouble. In fact, the club owner Buster tells Tim he has 24 hours to drastically improve his act, or it is curtains.

Tim gets little sympathy from his girlfriend, who would prefer Tim focus on finishing a degree and spending more quality time with her. Tim waffles at first but then becomes defensive and spends the rest of the night ensconced with his puppets, working up a new act.

The next day, at his day job as a clerk in a police evidence room, Tim tells his coworker Sgt. Nick, and their boss Captain Rogers, it may be his last night performing. He invites them both to come to what may be his final act, and Rogers tells him he'll try and make it.

That night at the club, Tim is bombing again, when Vetch insults an obese man and his wife in the audience. Although the target of his jokes is enraged, resulting in Captain Rogers (who is there as Tim's guest), having to break up a potential altercation between the target and Tim, the rest of the audience and Buster are enthralled. After a mesmerizing set punctuated by even more insults by Vetch, Tim is offered a contract for another month at the club.

Tim act gets more and more popular as he becomes totally absorbed with Vetch, his dirty old man puppet and deliverer of insults. In fact, Tim appears to lose the boundary between himself and Vetch, often treating Vetch as if he was real and an equal. As a result, Melissa gets increasingly worried about Tim's mental health, to the point that she reaches out to Tim's agent (and her ex-boyfriend) Darwin for advice and support. Although Darwin has some investment in Tim's act succeeding, he sees even more benefit to himself should Tim become even further absorbed by his puppets; i.e., Melissa might break it off with Tim and return to him!

After a month, Tim has been so successful he is now the club’s headliner and bringing in large crowds. Belinda is no longer part of the act; it's Tim, with insult king Vetch at the wheel! Vetch goes after a scrawny young black guy (Augustus) during one set and infuriates him to the point that he threatens to return with friends and close the act down because of what he perceives as racist remarks. Buster insists Tim make it right with Augustus to save them both from disaster. Tim and Vetch research Augustus, find on- line that his employer is a radio station, and follow him home from his workplace to set up a later confrontation.

Meanwhile, Melissa has threatened to break up with Tim unless he commits more time to her and less to his puppets. When Tim doesn't come home on time after this confrontation, she discovers the mutilated Belinda puppet in Tim's office, freaks out, locks Tim out of the apartment and calls Darwin for support. Darwin encourages her to finish with Tim and promises to come over the next night while Tim is performing. Later, Tim does show up very late and has a temper tantrum when Melissa won't unlock the door, switching between his own and Vetch's persona while demanding to be let in.

The next day at work, Tim pockets a set of bugler's tools from the evidence room while promising to teach Nick's teenage nephew Joey a bit about ventriloquism on his next day off. Later, with Vetch in tow, Tim uses the bugler’s tools to break into Augustus's house in the early evening before he arrives home. They lay in wait in the dark, and after a tense scene in Augustus's home, one of them lays him to waste.

From there, Tim races to the club to do his act. Shortly after the set begins, Vetch begins to insult Tim about being a cuckold, while pointing out Darwin's noticeable absence from the club. Tim freaks, bolts the stage mid-act and rushes back to his apartment.

Buster is frightened by what he's seen and calls Captain Rogers, advising him of Tim's apparent breakdown and encouraging him to intervene at Melissa's apartment immediately.

Tim arrives at Melissa’s just as she and Darwin have finished having impulsive sex on the couch. As the elevator bings outside, followed by Tim's approaching footsteps and the sound of his key in the lock, Darwin and Melissa struggle to get dressed. Darwin can't find one sock and is thus attired when Tim walks in. Tim dons Vetch, and the two interrogate Darwin and Melissa together.

Melissa freaks out when Vetch spies, then points out Darwin's missing sock. and she runs to the bedroom. From there. she at first hears raised voices, then the sounds of struggle and a groan. A few minutes later, she hears Tim loudly announce he is leaving. Feeling some relief, she puts her ear against the door to hear someone approaching. Darwin tells her it is him and she can open up. But when she does, there stands Tim wearing Vetch, grinning evilly. He has impersonated Darwin!

As an approaching police-car siren wails, Tim herds Melissa out of the apartment, while holding a cleaver in his free hand. As the walk through the living room to the front door, Melissa sees Darwin sitting on the couch, wide-eyed and still in the shadows, with a trickle of blood oozing out of his mouth. He is stone dead.

Captain Rogers roars into the parking lot, up the apartment elevator and into Melissa's apartment to discover Darwin. He then races to the apartment emergency stairway and calls up the shaft to Melissa and Tim. Just as the door to the roof four stories above closes, Melissa hollers down for help.

On the rooftop, Rogers confronts Tim, who stands near the roof’s edge with Melissa wrapped in the arm not wearing Vetch and holding the cleaver under her chin. Tim and Vetch continue to speak as two separate entities as Rogers and Melissa try to talk sense into Tim. A small crowd gathers, filming the episode on cell phones as even more cops pull into the lot.

Vetch convinces Tim he's finished but argues for being spared himself, as he's the true star of the act. Tim shoves Melissa into Roger’s arms, but then does a backwards header off the roof, clutching Vetch to his chest. They end up in a broken heap at the bottom, with Vetch lying on top of a bloody Tim, his arm around Tim's neck and his head twisted to the sky, grinning.

Two months later, Nick arrives at his sister's home with a birthday present for his 16-year-old nephew, Joey. The boy excited unwraps the large gift to discover a refurbished Mr. Vetch inside. His mom gives him permission to play with the dummy in his room for a few minutes while she finishes making his birthday dinner.

In his bedroom, the boy figures out how to wear Vetch on his arm and is practicing making his eyes and lips move. His mom yells for him to come down because dinner is ready. Just as he makes to remove Vetch from his arm, the dummy's head snaps around to face him, and snarls in the voice it has always had, "Hiya, Kid!"

HIYA, KID!