Jane (Emma Fitzpatrick) is an up-and-coming artist with a significant online following. Celebrating her first art show and disappointed that her older sister has bailed once again, Jane parties… HARD. Sometime later, she finds herself alone and phoneless in a downtown LA alley. That’s when it happens—Jane is viciously attacked by a sinister creature. Adamant that her attacker is a literal monster, Jane is met with skepticism from investigators, family members, and much of the public when she shares her story. Turning to her followers, Jane discovers other women have been attacked by the same monster and concludes that they will need to lead the charge themselves if this beast is to be defeated.

The monster is an actual glowing-eyes-and-sharp-teeth monster; it’s also a metaphor for the far more familiar monsters that walk among us in our everyday lives. TAKE BACK THE NIGHT is a self-described “riot girl creature feature,” a genuinely scary horror film, and a thought-provoking allegory for sexual assault. Fitzpatrick (who co-wrote the script) and writer/director Gia Elliot deliver an impressive debut feature that poignantly depicts the horrors of not only an attack, but also of everything that follows.