Eye for an Eye

Plot

A young woman, asleep in her bed, dreams of herself dancing on a stage with her cheerleading squad. At the end of the number, she falls through the stage floor and is horribly injured. She wakes up screaming, with her eye sockets bloody and her eyes gone.

In the present day, Anna arrives at her blind grandmother's house in Florida after her parents' death, where she also meets May's sister Patti. After settling in, Anna explores the woods behind the house and meets Shawn and Julie, two teenagers who invite her to drink beer with them. As she goes home, she discovers a large, old tree, on which her grandmother's name has been carved.

The following day, Anna visits Patti, who tells her that her grandmother used to be a talented but malicious cheerleader. She gleefully explains that May lost her eyes to 'Sandman', a local legend that punishes evildoers after haunting their dreams. Later, Anna meets up with Shawn and Julie. The three drink beer on a bridge, until Shawn spots Conner, a child, who he bullies and pushes off the bridge, causing him to break his arm. Shawn brings him to the hospital, but threatens to hurt him if he tells anyone of what happened. Feeling guilty, Anna escorts him to the door then goes home, where she cries herself to sleep.

Conner visits Patti, who urges him to stand up for himself. When he tells her that he is powerless, she advises him to write his bullies' name in the old tree so Sandman will punish them. That night, Conner carves Shawn, Julie and Anna's names into the tree.

Anna starts having nightmares, in which she relives her parents' death and sees herself drowning in a casket. The next day, she sees Conner in a local shop. She apologizes to him and buys him roller blades, but he refuses to speak to her. As the days go by, Shawn, Julie and Anna are all tormented by nightmares. Anna visits the tree and discovers the names carved into the bark, understanding what is happening to them. That night, she attempts to cut down the tree, but loses consciousness. In the following dream, she hears the story of Vincent, a blind boy with glass eyes that was killed by bullies in the forest, leading to him becoming Sandman.

Anna has an altercation with Shawn, then shows him and Julie the tree. After the girls leave him behind, Shawn's eyes are torn out by Sandman, a skeletal, eyeless being covered in roots. While Shawn tries to escape, he runs into a branch, falls and seemingly dies. Anna and Julie attempt to lucid dream, but have another nightmare. The next morning, Julie falls asleep in the bathtub, where Sandman tears out one of her eyes. As she tries to escape him, she trips, hits her head and drowns in the bathtub.

Anna is drugged and tied to her bed by her grandmother. May tries to cut her eyes out with scissors, believing that she needs to take her eyes in order to get her own back. Anna manages to escape, and plants the scissors in her grandmother's eye socket in the struggle that ensues. Having now realized that Sandman wants 'an eye for an eye', Anna breaks her arm with a hammer, inflicting the same injury as Conner on herself. While she falls asleep, Patti arrives at the house and discovers May, who removes the scissors from her eye then falls down the stairs. When Patti goes to check on her, May tells her she knows it was her who inflicted this pain on her, and stabs Patti in the eye. Both sisters lose consciousness.

Dreaming, Anna finds two glass eyes on the floor. In Sandman's lair, she hands them over to him and he spares her. She wakes up in her bed, her eyes intact.

Cast

Whitney Peak as Anna Reeves

S. Epatha Merkerson as May Roberts

Golda Rosheuvel as Patti

Finn Bennett as Shawn Heard

Laken Giles as Julie Cross

Michika McClinton as Young May

Production

In July 2023, it was announced Whitney Peak, S. Epatha Merkerson, Golda Rosheuvel, Finn Bennett and Laken Giles had joined the cast of the film, then titled Somewhere in Dreamland with Colin Tilley directing from a screenplay by Elisa Victoria and Michael Tully, and Ley Line Entertainment producing and financing. In October 2024, it was announced the film had been re-titled Eye for an Eye.

Release

In May 2025, Vertical acquired distribution rights to the film. It received a limited theatrical release on June 20, 2025. The film was released digitally on Starz in the United States, and on HBO Max in Latin and South America. Following its release, it became the most streamed movie in 21 countries on HBO Max.

Reception

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 12 critics' reviews are positive.

On San Jose Mercury News, Randy Myers rated it 3.5/4, writing that "even if the taut screenplay somewhat disappoints in the finale, Tilley keeps the visual aspects first-rate and never loses sight of what he has set out to accomplish." Luna Guthrie wrote for Collider that the movie was "a truly immersive experience that makes the best use of every element of filmmaking", calling it "a wonderfully atmospheric horror movie."