So Thirsty

Sloane Parker, approaching her 36th birthday, lives a quiet suburban life with her husband, Joel. She dreads aging, avoids her own reflection, and feels trapped in a malaise she cannot shake. Her closest relationship is with Naomi Rowe, her best friend since they were 14, when they bonded at a mutual friend's birthday party at a mall over shared musical tastes and recurring dreams about malls. Naomi is Sloane's opposite: Freewheeling and glamorous, she manages PR for her longtime boyfriend Levi's (Lee's) rock band, Data Ave, and has spent months touring Europe.

Joel surprises Sloane with a birthday weekend at the Waterfront Collective, a luxury resort in the Finger Lakes region. Sloane's reaction mixes gratitude with suspicion; she has caught Joel cheating twice before and wonders whether the trip is genuine or a way to get her out of the house. She drives to the resort alone, checks into a cottage, and waits for Naomi, who is flying back from Munich.

Naomi arrives and the two reconnect. They spend the evening at a bar in town called the Pharmacy, where Naomi abandons Sloane to flirt with a handsome stranger named Ilie. Sloane notices a man watching her from a shadowy corner but dismisses the idea. While waiting for the shuttle outside the bar, the friends argue about Sloane's pessimism and Naomi's recklessness. Back at the cottage, Sloane confesses she believes Joel is cheating again and is disturbed by how little she cares. Naomi urges her to pursue happiness, but Sloane insists the risk of upending her life is not worth it.

That night, Sloane checks a doorbell-camera app and sees footage of an unfamiliar woman entering her house hours after she left, confirming Joel's third infidelity. She is then startled by persistent tapping and the silhouette of a figure hovering outside her second-story window. She convinces herself it was a nightmare, but in the morning finds what appears to be a handprint on the glass.

On Sloane's birthday eve, Naomi reveals the evening's surprise: Ilie has invited them to a party at his lake house. Sloane resists but follows because she will not let Naomi go alone. Ilie drives them through the snow to a gated ranch house, where they meet a group of strangers: Elisabeta (Elisa), a tall blonde; Costel; Miri; and Tatiana, a sharp-tongued French redhead. The atmosphere turns sexually charged. Sloane confronts Naomi, who reveals she and Lee have an open relationship and pushes Sloane to let go.

Sloane retreats to a dark corner, where a man smoking a cigarette warns her she should be scared. He leads her to a glass-walled conservatory, where they play a disarming game of truth or dare. The man, who introduces himself as Henry, claims to be 592 years old. Sloane opens up about her past: a scholarship to NYU, a devastating betrayal by her first boyfriend Smith who distributed her nude photos, a spiral into reckless behavior, and a near-fatal fall that shattered her wrist and scared her into a life of rigid caution. They kiss. Henry confesses he was the silhouette at her cottage window and reveals that the homeowner is locked in the cellar. Horrified, Sloane runs to find Naomi.

Before they can escape, the captive, a starved vampire, breaks free and attacks. He bites deeply into Naomi's neck. Sloane fights him with a fire poker, but he bites her calf before Henry intervenes and kills the creature. Both women are gravely wounded; Naomi is bleeding out. Henry tells Sloane she must choose: eternal life or death. Desperate to save Naomi, Sloane agrees. Using a silver spile, a tap-like metal spike worn on a chain around Henry's neck, the vampires drain each woman's blood and feed on them. Each woman is then given her own blood to drink. The transformation is agonizing.

The next morning, Sloane discovers her wounds have healed, her surgically repaired wrist is restored, and neither woman has a reflection. Ilie explains the basics of their new existence: Sunlight is uncomfortable but not fatal, they will not age, and they must manage their thirst or risk withering into eternal torment. Sloane insists on leaving, and Ilie drives them back to the cottage.

There, Sloane calls Joel, tells him she saw the woman on the camera, and declares she is not coming home. Naomi slips outside and loses control of her thirst, killing a rabbit. When a resort employee stumbles upon the scene, Naomi attacks him. Sloane, unable to resist the scent of blood, drinks from him too. They bandage his wound and flee.

What follows is a desperate, increasingly violent road trip south. Naomi stops to say goodbye to Lee but bites his wrist during the farewell. At a rest stop, Naomi attacks a man; Sloane joins in, and the man dies. The vampires shadow them, with Ilie periodically delivering hospital-sourced blood. Sloane drinks most of one delivery before Naomi can take her share, deepening the rift between them.

The violence escalates at a gas station, where Naomi bites a woman. The woman shoots at them as they flee, and Sloane swerves into traffic, causing a multi-car crash. The vampires arrive and massacre the witnesses; Henry ignites the pumps, destroying the scene in an explosion. Sloane, devastated, climbs into the van.

The group shelters at a closed Renaissance fair, where Sloane and Henry grow closer. On a prop ship named the Demeter, they sleep together, and Sloane experiences an emotional awakening she thought was no longer possible. Henry reveals that during the turning, he gave Sloane her own blood so she would be bound to no one. Sloane drops her wedding ring into the snow.

When the group's camper breaks down near an abandoned town, Sloane encounters Ms. Alice, an ancient vampire who keeps chained, mutilated humans as a food source and tries to claim Naomi as a companion. Sloane bites Alice's arm to protect Naomi, and they escape after surrendering their remaining blood supply. At a Comfort Inn, Henry shares his history: He was a prince centuries ago, turned at 27 to prove himself to a kingdom that no longer exists. He plans a blood bank robbery. During the heist, the camper fails for good. As the vampires escape with stolen blood, Sloane senses a man approaching and tells Henry that she and Naomi will handle the situation. She pushes him away with a single word echoing their game in the conservatory: "Dare."

The man, Dave, approaches with condescending friendliness. Naomi pulls a hidden gun and demands his keys, but he knocks the weapon away. Both women bite him. As Sloane searches for the dropped keys, Dave regains consciousness and shoots Naomi in the chest. Sloane kills him in a frenzy, draining him completely.

She speeds away with the gravely wounded Naomi, who is losing the dark blood unique to vampires. After evading police through a harrowing chase, Sloane spots an abandoned mall. Naomi, fading, calls it the dream mall. Sloane carries her inside, biting through a padlock chain. In the decaying atrium, Naomi tells Sloane to promise she will live. Sloane bites into her own wrist and feeds Naomi her blood at excruciating cost. As Naomi lies motionless, Sloane crawls to an old fountain and tosses in a penny. She hears footsteps and turns to find Naomi sitting up, color returning to her face, surrounded by Henry and the others. Sloane chooses to embrace her new life fully.

In an epilogue set years later at a café in Prague, two young American women notice an eccentric group at the next table. Sloane and Naomi arrive hand in hand, confident and radiant. One young woman says admiringly that the pair will be them someday. Sloane overhears and responds: "Maybe it already is." Naomi turns and blows a kiss.