Written and directed by Scott Walker, The Tank is the story of the accidental release of a dormant and ancient creature by a family that has mysteriously inherited an abandoned coastal property. Read the article to find out what really happens at the end.
The date is shown as May 2, 1946, and a mother and daughter are shown sleeping peacefully while the father is being dragged into a water tank in the drenching rain by an unknown force. The scene shifts to 1978 Oakland, California, where Jules (Luciane Buchanan) and Ben (Matt Whelan), along with their daughter, are running an animal shelter. While Ben is closing their shop, a lawyer by the name of Amos Tilbury (Mark Mitchinson) arrives and wants to talk about Ben’s mother, who has passed away recently. Ben learns that his father bought a coastal property in Oregon in 1935 by the name of Hobbit’s Bay. Ben says that her mother never spoke about this, and forgetting about a property is kind of strange. Mr. Tilbury further sheds light on the disappearance of Ben’s father and sister while going for a swim in Hobbit’s Bay, which Ben did not know. In the next scene, Ben is seen making his way to the property along with his family.
The family arrives in a desolate place in the middle of nowhere. They go inside the house, and it has no power. Ben finds some old photographs of his mother, and Jules discovers an amazing scenic view of the beach from the house. While Jules and her daughter wait, Ben checks out the same water tank where his father was dragged in and finds an old lantern. Ben starts carrying all the things from the car while Jules and her daughter check out the whole house, and the family starts settling in. While cleaning the house, both Ben and Jules stumble upon some paper clippings. While sitting by the fire at night, they inspect the clippings, where they see several people missing in this particular area. Jules puts her daughter to sleep and finds Ben’s mother’s diary, which they both start to read. The scene moves back to April 1946, where Ben’s mother writes that, along with her older sister and his father, they are thriving in this place. Suddenly, after one night, Ben’s mother was not able to find his father, and he has been missing for three days. She alerted the local police, and that’s the last entry in the diary.
The scene shifts to Ben’s daughter’s room, where she hears movement and noises. Running away to her mother, she says something is trying to get into the house. Both Ben and Jules went downstairs and checked the surroundings but were not able to find anything. In the morning, Ben fixes the electricity, but Jules says that this place is making her a bit uneasy. Ben again goes down to the water tank, fixes the water problem, and finds a long tunnel inside it. He also discovers a dead creature that looks like an amphibian, according to Jules, and they decide to preserve it in the cooler. In the meantime, their daughter sees something like a slimy creature inside the tank and screams. Ben and Jules come to their daughter and say there are many wild animals around, or it may be the sound of the water from the pipe. A lady comes in at this moment and says she was sent by Mr. Tilbury. She says that there were many protests when Ben’s father brought this property, and the locals believed the land was cursed. She also mentions that there is a buyer who is interested, and Ben and Jules should take their time and decide. It is dark, and the lady is coming back to her car, and suddenly she is attacked by this unknown creature that preys on her as its victim.
The scene shifts to Ben and Jules’ bedroom, where they again hear sounds. Jules came downstairs to check and sees the creature in the window at a glance, and gets scared. Ben calms her down and says that they will soon sell this property and leave. The next morning, when Ben tries to get some water, he found out it is blackish and smelled. He again goes down inside the water tank and finds a dead raccoon and his dead sister’s locket tangled in the pipe. They decide that they should call the police, who must have a look inside the tank. Ben decides to go to the gas station, while Jules finds out the cover of the tank is again open from the window. Ben discovers the lady’s car and her dead body, which has been eaten up violently. He gets scared and quickly goes to his car and uses the radio for help. Jules, on the other side, finds water on the floor of her house, which is unusual and leads to a room that is locked. She opens the room and finds out a torn journal, and suddenly the room gets locked. Ben rushes to his house in his car, while by breaking a window Jules runs to save her daughter. Both of them come and see that their daughter is safe. Ben tells Jules about the horrific dead body while she tells about the torn journal. Jules says that Ben’s mother wrote that there was some creature that killed his husband and daughter and never wanted Ben to come to this place.
The sheriff who comes to the aid of Ben’s family is soon attacked by the slimy creature, which exactly looks like the one they preserved earlier. Ben came and found the sheriff in a helpless condition and being dragged by the creature, seeing which he flees the scene. Ben comes back and tells Jules about the creature. He tells Jules to bolt the door and stay upstairs while he lures the creature into the tank and use the fertilizers in the shed to make an explosive and kill it inside the tank. Ben goes to the shed to fetch essential things and comes back in front of the tank, where he finds blood stains. He goes inside the tank and finds the dead body of the sheriff. Moving it aside, he closes the valve of the water tank and sees the creature, which again goes underwater. Using the fertilizer and wire, Ben creates an explosive element and puts it inside the tank. While he tries to escape, the creature gets to him and drags him inside the tank. Seeing flashes of light from the window, when Jules decides to go to help Ben, another creature pounds on their door. When Jules tries to block the door with a wardrobe, a similar creature takes their child. Ben is seen injured, and their daughter is taken inside the tank by the creature in front of him. Jules protects herself from the creature with fire from the lamp and understands it is scared of fire. Jules gets inside the tank by making a fire torch with a mop and finds two similar creatures that are attacking them. Soon she is attacked and dragged down inside the water, but she is able to kill them with a rake. Jules gets to her daughter and finds out more such creatures are coming through the tunnel. She and her daughter narrowly escape and come out of the tank. Jules takes their dog and her daughter back to the car and promises to come back with Ben. While getting Ben back from the house, the creature again comes back to the house and to the car where their daughter is. Jules brings Ben back to the car and shoots the creature down, and they drive away hurriedly from the cursed place.
A simple plot with average acting The Tank can be categorized as “old wine in a new bottle.” The element of horror, which is the creature, fails to provide the spine-chilling fear one expects from a horror movie.