The Trigger Effect (2003) Synopsis - MovieWeb

The Trigger Effect (2003) Synopsis - MovieWeb
The lights go on; the television plays; the telephone rings.

Your comforts increase as you relinquish control over your life to the technology that sustains you. Enemies are images on a small screen, blips on a radar tracker... bloodless, remote.

One day, technology crashes. Lights go off; the TV stops playing; the phone goes dead.

Cut off from that which consoled you, the enemy is now a shadow at the window... a noise in the kitchen... the guy across the street... your own fears.

Amblin Entertainment and Gramercy Pictures present the directorial debut of David Koepp, THE TRIGGER EFFECT, starring Academy Award nominee Elisabeth Shue ("Leaving Las Vegas"), Dermot Mulroney ("Copycat" and "Living in Oblivion") and Kyle MacLachlan ("Twin Peaks" and "The Flintstones"). Written and directed by Koepp (whose writing credits include "Jurassic Park," "Mission: Impossible" and the award-winning "Apartment Zero"), the psychological thriller is produced by Michael Grillo. Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Gerald R. Molen are executive producers.

Out for a quiet night at the movies, Matt (KYLE MacLACHLAN) and Annie (ELISABETH SHUE) abide a series of petty annoyances that spill like uncapped soft drinks from one theatergoer to the next. Among the annoyed is Raymond (RICHARD T. JONES).

Returning to their suburban home, Matt and Annie discover that their infant daughter has an ear infection. Matt calls the pediatrician who says he'll phone in a prescription in the morning, but during the night there is a power failure. And in the darkness, the network of support for everything on which their daily lives have come to depend begins unraveling.

Matt goes outside and finds his neighbors - including Steph (BILL SMITROVICH) - checking their circuits and speculating on what may have caused the outage. With the phones dead, the pharmacist hasn't received the prescription and won't give Matt the medicine. Spurred on by the increasing lawlessness, Matt steals the penicillin his daughter needs.

At home, the couple gets a surprise visit from Matt's old friend, Joe (DERMOT MULRONEY). Joe brings rumors about "looting and shooting" in town. They go into town to see for themselves how the system is breaking down.

With the world around them appearing more threatening, Annie invites Joe to stay with them. Joe's presence triggers tensions between the two men. The relationship between the three of them suffers further after a confrontation with a prowler turns violent. The technological island that has been their life support system no longer seems safe. They decide to leave.

Raymond, whose path has crossed Matt's several times without either knowing it, is also on his way to find sanctuary. At a roadside diner, a traveler named Gary (MICHAEL ROOKER), who is having car trouble tries to bargain with Ray for a gallon of gas. Ray turns him down.

Farther down the road, an event occurs in which the lives of Annie, Matt and Joe ricochet off those of Gary and Raymond. Fears for survival create mistrust. Lives hang in the balance as a test of wills turns into a test of faith. And nothing in their comfortable urban existence could possibly have prepared them for this.