Piercing

Piercing is a 2018 American psychological horror-thriller film written and directed by Nicolas Pesce, based on the novel of the same name by Ryū Murakami. It stars Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, and Laia Costa, and features Maria Dizzia, Marin Ireland, and Wendell Pierce in supporting roles. Piercing had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2018 and was theatrically released on February 1, 2019, by Universal Pictures, to generally positive reviews from critics. Plot Reed stands over his infant daughter with an ice pick, while his wife sleeps across the room unaware. He has an overwhelming desire to stab his daughter with the ice pick, but is able to push the urge down in the moment. Later, while calming the baby, she looks up at him and says, "You know what you have to do, right?". He then decides that he must enact his murderous impulses upon a prostitute, so as to protect his daughter from himself. He has convinced his wife that he is going on a business trip. However, he actually intends to rent a hotel room, hire the services of a sex worker, and go through with his meticulous plot of killing the person with an ice pick, while getting away with the crime. Reed makes his way to a hotel at the beginning of the night. Once he enters the room, he begins a rehearsal of his plans. He continually wipes fingerprints and times himself in a notebook after falling unconsciousness by chloroform. However, when the appointed time arrives, Jackie has arrived instead of his intended victim. She brings with her a collection of kinky fetish gear and a sadistic impulse. After a bad first encounter, she hides in the bathroom, and Reed nervously awaits. He grows impatient and enters the bathroom after Jackie ignores his calls. Upon entry, he sees her repeatedly stabbing herself with a pair of scissors in the leg. He overpowers her and carries her to the bed where she passes out, most likely due to the pills she swallowed earlier. He quickly bandages her and ditches his plans to murder. He grabs his belongings and attempts to leave the hotel, but returns after seeing Jackie leaving the room undressed and bleeding.