Sum of Existence

Writer & Director: Jon Cohen
Producer: Tim Maddocks
Cast: Brooke Anderson, Simone Kessell, Josh Picker, Angela Carmichael, Oriana Panozzo
Runtime: 86 minutes
Country: Australia

LIZ is a normal teenager that one day gets the unwanted attention of a stalker, ALEX, an orderly at the hospital who's wife has just left him. Liz is attacked and raped by Alex and left to die. Rescued and brought to hospital, she is unable to deal with the assault and tries to kill herself. Her parents enlist the help of Dr. JULIET KING, a young and ambitious psychiatrist, who uses hypnosis to make Liz forget the rape.

Liz believes that she was in a coma for two months in hospital, and that the scars on her wrists are the attacker's attempts to kill her. Her best friend, MICHELLE, still blames herself, as she didn't walk the whole way home with Liz. Her mother KAREN and father MACK struggle with what happened to their daughter, as their marriage falls apart.

Alex, angered that the hypnosis means his victim will not suffer and remember him for the rest of her life, sets his sights on Juliet, pretending to be traumatised by the sight of Liz when she was brought into the hospital. As she continues to treat him, she slowly falls in love with him, something she has done with several prior patients... and Alex knows this.

Liz’s mother believes the hypnosis has fundamentally changed her daughter and lashes out at her when she behaves like a normal teenager, inadvertently blaming her for what happened. Liz, shattered by this betrayal, tries to kill herself, returning her to hospital.

As the sub-conscious reasserts the true memories on the fake ones, Liz has a series of fits, hitting and injuring the nurses trying to help her. Juliet, knowing that Liz's brain is destroying itself, removes the hypnotic block, making Liz aware of the reality of the assault. Liz finally gets home, still recovering, but wanting time away from her parents, she and Michelle head to a local hotel for the weekend.

Alex decides to finish his quest to destroy Liz. He pretends that Juliet's hypnotherapy has worked on him. He fools her into playing a kinky game with him and throws her in the boot of his car, drives to Liz's house, knocks out Michelle and so starts a game of cat and mouse between Alex and Liz. Michelle and Juliet free themselves, chasing after the other, leading to a devastating final confrontation between them; where hypnosis is not all it seems.