Impulsively agreeing to spend the weekend with a beloved client’s family, a meticulous queer BDSM practitioner must confront his latent vulnerabilities when strange events reveal a harrowing truth about the family’s deceased pet dog…and its replacement. 

SYNOPSIS:

AUDITION meets GET OUT meets WEEKEND

In present day Manchester, asexual BDSM practitioner KYLIAN 'KY' LAUDER (30) lives in a state of growing malaise. Migrated to the city’s Gay District years before, his meticulous dedication to the therapeutic benefits of BDSM is tarred by the memory of being attacked by a dog in a homophobic assault aged 16, leaving him with self-conscious thigh scars, a phobia of canines, and a rooted prejudice against ‘traditional families’. Having spent so long helping others achieve greater sexual autonomy, he longs for a deeper connection to help relieve his fears.

When no-nonsense employer TESS (30s) reluctantly considers letting a property firm buy out their renovated BDSM chamber to save on lease costs, Ky doubles down on his efforts to secure new clients. Wading through a mess of uninformed and stereotyping applicants, he finally stumbles upon polite yet anxious LACHLAN ‘LOCKIE’ WOLCOTT (20s): an asexual university dropout seeking to ‘rebuild himself’ following a crisis of self-worth.

Hooked by the young man's deft self-actualisation, Ky tests Lockie’s resolve with preliminary sessions, eventually taking him on as a new high-paying ‘sub’ client. As their sessions continue, the ‘dom’ grows increasingly fond of Lockie, bonding in aftercare over the (seeming) coincidence of hiding their asexuality from their families by pretending to be gay, deeming it ‘easier for them to handle’. Pushing his sub’s endurance further, Ky even feels the stirrings of romantic attraction…until Lockie makes a request: ‘pup play’ - the art of acting like a dog for a dominant ‘master’.

Facing down his cynophobia, Ky attempts to adapt, only to suffer a panic attack when Lockie bites his scarred thigh during a ‘scene’, disrupting their aftercare. Finding his client gone the next morning and on unresponsive to messages, a guilt-riddem Ky fears he has blown his chance.

Until the dawn of Pride Month, when Lockie suddenly replies. The bad news: he's moving to Carlisle with his retiring parents and won't be able to attend sessions anymore. The ‘good’ news: his parents wish to meet and thank him in person for ‘making their son anew’.

Faced with the chamber’s closure following an act of vandalism, and unwilling to face corporate pinkwashing at Manchester Pride, Ky impulsively gives in to temptation. Driven from Carlisle station to the Wolcotts’ modern yet isolated home in the countryside, Ky is swiftly introduced to Lockie's liberal family: homely vet receptionist LINDA (50s), straight-talking sales manager STEPHEN (60), and lesbian law trainee sister NICA (20s). While the down-to-earth yet harmless parents welcome him with open arms, the stand-offish Nica seems to see right through Ky's white lies about his profession as a ‘people manager’, setting him and Lockie on edge. Worse still: the parents are in deep grief over the recent loss of their beloved pet Alsatian…also named ‘Lockie’.

Initially brushing off his nerves as wanting to make a good impression while keeping the truth of his and Lockie’s master/sub relationship under wraps, Ky can't help growing unnerved by strange events in and out the home seeming to elevate his cynophobic anxiety -- numerous canine keepsakes; Lockie’s attempts to enact ‘pup play’ with his parents within reach; a disconcerting game of Hide-and-Seek in the nearby woods; and Nica's growing insistence he leave the home ‘while he has the chance’ .

As secret after secret spills out -- including Steven and Linda's strained sexual relationship; Nica privately asserting she is pansexual (not lesbian) while attempting to flee with a bag of cash; and Lockie attempting to ‘solve’ Ky's cynophobia -- Ky realizes he may be way in over his head.

His anxiety reaching fever pitch, he finally confesses his true profession to protect Lockie’s feelings…only to be met with applause, as the parents knew the whole time: they accidentally discovered Lockie using Steven’s credit card to pay for BDSM sessions, and requested to meet Ky in person to gauge he was ‘right to lead their son’. Even more stunning: they want to pay Ky £50k from their savings (the bag of cash, withdrawn specially for Ky) to cover the BDSM chamber’s lease, allowing it to remain open.

Initially humiliated, Lockie is encouraged by a relieved Ky to finally come out as asexual to his surprisingly accepting parents, stating the sessions were never sexually motivated and only to ‘rebuild himself’.

Decrying Nica’s warnings as she is seemingly driven away from home, Ky basks in the Wolcotts’ acceptance, culminating in a final ‘pup play’ session with Lockie on Saturday night (while the parents go out), ultimately deciding to continue with him as a client and even admit his growing romantic feelings.

But come Sunday dinner, a twisted revelation sees Ky discover everything he thought he knew about the Wolcotts collapse in horrific fashion.

Presented with an offer to live in their home as Lockie’s ‘new master’, Ky misconstrues the parents as wanting to become clients themselves, promptly rejecting their offer and confessing his feelings in the process.

Seemingly offended at misinterpreting Ky’s asexuality as him ‘not feeling anything’, the Wolcotts reveal their delusional true colours -- Lockie is actually straight (not gay or asexual), was expelled from university over inappropriate ‘ally’ behaviour at a Pride event, and has been using Ky's ‘pup play’ sessions for a surreal endgame: he intends to live as the family’s new pet dog, i.e. his ‘new self’, as recompense for ‘disrupting the proper family dynamic’ by killing their pet Alsatian in a rage.

An equally manic Linda and Stephen are actually a vet surgeon and property developer respectively, and used their high earnings to buy a new home where they could retire and live as a ‘proper family unit’, away from the confines of ‘woke politics hurting their family’.

A gift box reveals a stomach-churning sight: Lockie’s new ‘pup-suit’, stitched by Linda from the hollowed-out corpse of their former pet dog.

A horrified and sickened Ky realises Nica’s warnings were true - Lockie vandalised the BDSM chamber to influence him into visiting his family, blackmailed a resistant Nica into moving to Carlisle as ‘a good sister and daughter’, and has been manipulating Ky the whole time.

Attempting to flee, he is swiftly rendered unconscious.

Waking in the family's garage to the nightmare-inducing sight of Lockie on all-fours in his corpse pup-suit (the ‘new Lockie’), Ky is forced into a grotesque parody of ‘pup play’ to overcome his fear of dogs and make him ‘a nice normal gay lad’ (i.e. ‘cure’ his asexuality). Pushing past his trauma, Ky applies his BDSM-derived skills to fight back and subdue the family. Chased outside by Lockie to the woods, he finds and rescues Nica (tied up by her family for trying to escape), who helps reduce her hated brother to begging with a shock collar.

Carried inside and given medical attention, Lockie gloats he was ‘a more convincing queer’ than Ky, bitterly accusing cancel culture in the LGBT+ community for driving him to live as a dog, as it would be ‘easier than being human’ now due to a lack of opportunities for ‘lads like him’.

Resolving not to be afraid anymore, Ky and Nica calmly burn the £50k bag of cash, before leaving the unrepentant Wolcott clan behind to escape back to Manchester.

Weeks later, Nica has moved in as Ky's flatmate and working as a law firm intern.

With the BDSM chamber rejecting the buy-out offer in favour of Gay District crowdfunding, a recovering Ky returns to work. Emboldened by kindly new client JACK (20s) - a gay man with an emotional support dog - Ky contacts his parents in Ireland and confidently comes out as asexual.

While their reaction is unknown, he is relieved all the same, and left hopeful in overcoming his latent fears…