Synopsis

A self-loathing and lonely thirty-year-old connects with another insecure man during a crazed Halloween eve. Initial meet-ups are awkward for two secure individuals, however for two insecure men it’s a frightening adventure as they unzip their suitcases and share their baggage.

Frank is reluctant and thirsty for love due to his low self esteem and self body-shaming. However, when he breaks from his demanding butcher job to drink at a local gay bar, his lonely life is challenged when he meets Clark. Clark is a creative non-assuming thirty-year-old masked in teen acne scars who makes special effects at the Asylum, a local Halloween attraction. When Clark is rudely ghosted at the bar by an attractive man and his friends, Frank feels sympathy for him and tries to offer him a beer. Clark doesn’t want pity from a stranger and escapes by dodging out into the historic streets of Soulard.

Frank isn’t giving up this time and chases Clark down. Clark surrenders with a stroll around the quaint cobblestone streets and French row homes and businesses. Frank opens up and shares his life story with the captive Clark. Soon they share their common interests and secrets — the baggage each carries with them that they hide from the world.

When it really feels like a real date, Frank’s cheating brother thrusts his baby on them. The night becomes a horror as the baby poops and vomits on Frank. Clark takes him to the Asylum to clean off and shows him his scary makeup and costume work. Far scarier, Clark reveals the physical wrist scars of a concealed suicide. He shares his personal and secret story for the first time. Frank empathizes and the bond becomes authentic. Soon the two join together as Mr. Hyde and the bloody Butcher and scare the men that rudely ghosted Clark. They share in their revenge, but Frank self-implodes his chance for a relationship. Frank physically forces himself on Clark for sex, but Clark doesn’t want a one-night stand and leaves Frank hurt.

Come Halloween, Frank goes to the bar’s annual Halloween Monster Ball where he gets drunk and further morose. He drunkenly realizes love is more important than superficial looks. After a bar blow-out, Frank dashes away as Mr. Hyde. He sprints to the Asylum to get Clark back, but must go through the maze of horrors to find him. After a scary chase he finds Clark has become a horrific monster himself. Clark wrestles Frank in the pumpkin patch. They fight until each surrenders when Frank blurts out that he loves Clark. They are tossed out of the Asylum by the owner who exclaims, “It’s Halloween, not Valentine’s Day.” In the end the two misfits cuddle in a church spire as the sun rises over the Gateway Arch toward a second date. Frank believes the relationship is a forever fairytale as Clark keeps it real and uncertain.