This movie is kind of like an adult version of "HOME ALONE" except there are no comedically-slapstick traps and it is a heck of a lot creepier. Think "The Lurking Burger King" mascot kind of creepy without the delivery of fast food upon locating the hidden lurker.
Felix (the man terrified of the hidden stranger in his house) breaks up with his girlfriend Claudia. A stranger stops over and asks to use the phone and then vanishes when Felix turns his back. After more jumping at shadows, calling the police with finding no stranger, and getting Vera (the twin of the wheelchair-bound Claudia) to stay the night after some lovemaking and a shared conversation about loneliness Felix wakes up to discover Vera missing. Later outside the closed kitchen door he hears Vera talking to some unknown person (the unknown person never audibly talks back) about "You can't hide in here forever Martin, he will discover you...", Felix bursts into the kitchen, scares Vera and she denies that she was talking to anyone. That leads to a breakup and Vera leaves again. Felix discovers his neighbor's dog outside his kitchen door later and he uses it to hunt for the mystery lurker in his home as the dog rushes upstairs. The elderly woman that owns the dog is scared of Felix because of the knife he is holding and she chases after her dog and ends up falling down the stairs and breaking her neck and dying. The police clear Felix of the death by declaring it accidental.
Felix goes home after stealing a gun out of the detective's desk drawer. Goes into his attic, sees a man-like shadow and shoots it. He follows the blood trail and locks the stranger in his basement. Felix then goes and locks the entire house down and oddly enough smashes his home alarm. He drives off, stops the car, takes his crumpled sketch of the vanished visitor and falls asleep in it and later wakes up hear 2 kids talking about whether the person in the sketch lives in a nearby house. Felix goes to that house and becomes a mysterious lurker in the home of the wheelchair-bound Claudia. It gets interesting after that.
Cutting to the chase... DO NOT READ THE REST IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THE MOVIE... READ AFTER YOU HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE TO DE-CONFUSE YOURSELF...
Felix is the star of the show and the victim of mysterious lurkers.
Claudia is the wheelchair-bound wife of Martin.
Vera is the twin sister of Claudia. She might also be a lurker as well given the ending and the fact that Martin could not leave the basement after Felix and Vera's breakup and Vera might just have gone to Felix's house secretly to locate Martin without upsetting Felix. Or she could just be a child of a family that were pros at the whole game of "Extreme Hide and Seek", though the easy obvious way to foil a hidden-home-lurker is to get a dog to seek the lurker out with the next most obvious way is to sprinkle powder on the floor to detect footprints (Kool-Aid would be hard to "redust" to hide footprints and a pain to clean up later).
Martin is the vanished phone user and mystery lurker who is found in the tunnel out of Claudia's basement at the end of the movie. He dies from a diabetic coma in the basement tunnel to Felix's house after Claudia locks the door to the basement, trapping Martin inside. Martin has to have been in Felix's house before Vera broke up with Felix. I assume Martin was lurking about Claudia's house too because he was a bit nutty before lurking around Felix's house to find out about where the tunnel exited. Since the tunnel from Claudia's basement wasn't open (plastered over bricks) from Felix's side of the house I have to logically assume that the second lurker was Vera trying to find Martin in Felix's house and she became a hidden lurker in Felix's house for the same weird motivation that Felix found in lurking hidden in Claudia and Bruno's house. Martin is the archaeologist husband of Claudia .
Bruno is most likely the brother of the wheelchair-bound Claudia and Vera. So this makes the family in the other house -- Felix + Claudia. Since Bruno isn't chatting about Vera all the time I can assume he isn't Vera's husband, so him being a brother makes the most sense.
I won't spoil the ending itself as if you have read to this point, you should no longer be confused what happened plot-wise now when you watch the movie. It is also logical to assume the tunnel between the homes might have been a way for the former home owners to escape danger or smuggle illicit items. The whole plot actually revolves around Martin's weird obsession of hiding from his wife all the time and then doing the same in a stranger's house. The only logical flaw I think for this movie is that Felix didn't go out a purchase a dog to locate the stranger in his home or just "bug bomb" the place. It would've been a pretty short running movie though if it were.
Felix (the man terrified of the hidden stranger in his house) breaks up with his girlfriend Claudia. A stranger stops over and asks to use the phone and then vanishes when Felix turns his back. After more jumping at shadows, calling the police with finding no stranger, and getting Vera (the twin of the wheelchair-bound Claudia) to stay the night after some lovemaking and a shared conversation about loneliness Felix wakes up to discover Vera missing. Later outside the closed kitchen door he hears Vera talking to some unknown person (the unknown person never audibly talks back) about "You can't hide in here forever Martin, he will discover you...", Felix bursts into the kitchen, scares Vera and she denies that she was talking to anyone. That leads to a breakup and Vera leaves again. Felix discovers his neighbor's dog outside his kitchen door later and he uses it to hunt for the mystery lurker in his home as the dog rushes upstairs. The elderly woman that owns the dog is scared of Felix because of the knife he is holding and she chases after her dog and ends up falling down the stairs and breaking her neck and dying. The police clear Felix of the death by declaring it accidental.
Felix goes home after stealing a gun out of the detective's desk drawer. Goes into his attic, sees a man-like shadow and shoots it. He follows the blood trail and locks the stranger in his basement. Felix then goes and locks the entire house down and oddly enough smashes his home alarm. He drives off, stops the car, takes his crumpled sketch of the vanished visitor and falls asleep in it and later wakes up hear 2 kids talking about whether the person in the sketch lives in a nearby house. Felix goes to that house and becomes a mysterious lurker in the home of the wheelchair-bound Claudia. It gets interesting after that.
Cutting to the chase... DO NOT READ THE REST IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THE MOVIE... READ AFTER YOU HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE TO DE-CONFUSE YOURSELF...
Felix is the star of the show and the victim of mysterious lurkers.
Claudia is the wheelchair-bound wife of Martin.
Vera is the twin sister of Claudia. She might also be a lurker as well given the ending and the fact that Martin could not leave the basement after Felix and Vera's breakup and Vera might just have gone to Felix's house secretly to locate Martin without upsetting Felix. Or she could just be a child of a family that were pros at the whole game of "Extreme Hide and Seek", though the easy obvious way to foil a hidden-home-lurker is to get a dog to seek the lurker out with the next most obvious way is to sprinkle powder on the floor to detect footprints (Kool-Aid would be hard to "redust" to hide footprints and a pain to clean up later).
Martin is the vanished phone user and mystery lurker who is found in the tunnel out of Claudia's basement at the end of the movie. He dies from a diabetic coma in the basement tunnel to Felix's house after Claudia locks the door to the basement, trapping Martin inside. Martin has to have been in Felix's house before Vera broke up with Felix. I assume Martin was lurking about Claudia's house too because he was a bit nutty before lurking around Felix's house to find out about where the tunnel exited. Since the tunnel from Claudia's basement wasn't open (plastered over bricks) from Felix's side of the house I have to logically assume that the second lurker was Vera trying to find Martin in Felix's house and she became a hidden lurker in Felix's house for the same weird motivation that Felix found in lurking hidden in Claudia and Bruno's house. Martin is the archaeologist husband of Claudia .
Bruno is most likely the brother of the wheelchair-bound Claudia and Vera. So this makes the family in the other house -- Felix + Claudia. Since Bruno isn't chatting about Vera all the time I can assume he isn't Vera's husband, so him being a brother makes the most sense.
I won't spoil the ending itself as if you have read to this point, you should no longer be confused what happened plot-wise now when you watch the movie. It is also logical to assume the tunnel between the homes might have been a way for the former home owners to escape danger or smuggle illicit items. The whole plot actually revolves around Martin's weird obsession of hiding from his wife all the time and then doing the same in a stranger's house. The only logical flaw I think for this movie is that Felix didn't go out a purchase a dog to locate the stranger in his home or just "bug bomb" the place. It would've been a pretty short running movie though if it were.