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Beautiful Mexican American Ana Maria (Sandra Echeverria,) who suffered a terrible trauma as a little girl in Mexico leaving her with an almost pathological fear of the dark, goes on an extra credit geology field trip to a cave in the desert with six other high school seniors, Zeke, Jessica, Cosmo, Jock, Anthony and Janice, and their science teacher, Mr. Whitney (Henry Czerny.) Ana Maria barely manages the courage to follow the group into the darkness of the cave, and there is trouble right away: one of the students is missing when they reach the staging area. Mr. Whitney puts them to work and goes looking for “the knucklehead.” The students work in teams for several hours, where Ana Maria’s partner Zeke, a handsome, playful tease, learns that she agreed to accompany them to help him with his schoolwork. He also realizes how difficult it is for Ana Maria to be there. They all meet up in the staging area for lunch, except for Cosmo and Jock, who are “otherwise engaged.” They hear a scream, and follow it to find their teacher dead, his throat torn open. Suspicion immediately falls on Anthony because of the open hostility between him and their teacher. Their suspicion becomes conviction when they find him cowering nearby, covered in blood. He denies it, reluctantly tells them what happened, saying they won’t believe him. Whitney was killed by “a weird big dog thing”…with wings. They don’t believe him. At this point the consensus is it’s time to go home, but first they need to go back for Cosmo and Jock. Ana Maria, the only one who really cares about Anthony, convinces him to stay with them, in spite of his anger and hurt. On the way back to the staging area they run into Jock, hysterical and covered in blood, Cosmo’s blood. Something came out of the dark and nearly tore her head off. Anthony asks them if they still believe “the cholo” did it. They try to find their way out, but become hopelessly lost, then realize they need the water, food and spare batteries in their packs back at the staging area. When they near the place where Whitney was attacked they hear an unusual noise, like something is echolocating. Then they see that whatever killed their teacher has returned to finish its meal— Whitney has been half-eaten. Wild with fear, they hurry back to their packs. It is then that Ana Maria realizes her memory was triggered by the sound the creature made. As Anthony, the only one who’s seen it, sketches the monster, Ana Maria tells them about her father’s teasing her about a kind of demon, las chupacabras, and the night when she was a little girl the teasing became a reality. Anthony shows her the picture: “It’s a chupa.” They grab their packs and fight their way through the cave, desperately seeking a way out, and they find one. It’s a difficult climb up a narrow chimney to a tiny opening in the desert floor. Zeke tries to make it out, but is too big. The smaller Anthony agrees to try. He gets his head and shoulders out, and is struck in the throat by a rattlesnake, falling back to his death. After this none of the girls is willing to try it, so they soldier on, looking for a real exit.Sixteen hours later, exhausted, they have to rest. In a dream, Ana Maria returns to the barn, and her memory cycle is complete. When she wakes, she is sure of what they are up against. They set out again, following a flow of fresh air. Zeke comments that by now the authorities will be looking for them. Then Janice reveals their true predicament: it was an unauthorized trip—no one knows where they are. How does she know? Her relationship with their teacher was closer than anyone suspected. Janice is attacked, and the kids panic, running into the blackness. Jock trips and falls headfirst into a jagged rock, a fatal blow. They return to Janice. She’s alive, but barely. Her last words: “I’m sorry.” Now just three, Ana Maria, Zeke and Jessica are determined to escape. Pushing the air gun back into his belt, Zeke shoots himself with the tranquilizer dart, forcing the girls to take cover with him until he wakes up. The creature tries to get at them, but is driven off by their screams and a flashlight. When Zeke wakes they resume following the fresh air draft. They pass the place where Jock fell. His body is gone. Jessica kneels to change her headlamp batteries, and is attacked from behind, her throat torn to shreds. Zeke throws his pick at the creature and it disappears into the darkness. Zeke and Ana Maria admit they care for each other, Zeke regretting he didn’t say something till now, when they probably won’t survive. Ana Maria is resolute—they will survive, but they have no choice but to kill the creature. It is then she realizes the creature is afraid of their lights. They create a “light bomb,” tying all the flashlights together, and track the (hopefully) wounded creature, using the trail of blood from wound made by Zeke’s pick. They find it, cornered. Ana Maria holding using the flashlights to blind it, Zeke attacks it with a rock. But he blocks the light and the thing flies at his throat. Ana Maria hits it with the flashlights, driving it off, but it’s too late. They share one last kiss before he dies. Now she struggles on alone, in a last desperate attempt to find her way out, only to find her way back to the place where Anthony lies, his corpse now cleaned to the bone. Determined, she fights her way up the chimney...and is nose to nose with the chupa, hanging upside down. Holding her breath, she raises her camera, and flashes it in the creature’s eyes, and it flips around and flies out into the night, knocking her to the dirt. She wakes in the morning and fights her way back up the chimney, struggling to the light. She drags herself out of the ground, into the sunlight and air...then realizes she’s lost and alone in the vast desert.
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